Sean Bechtel shines with other Caledon athletes at Florida triathlon

Caledon's Sean Bechtel recently won Clermont Florida's Great Escape Triathlon.

Caledon's Sean Bechtel won Clermont Florida's Great Escape Triathlon on a very cool morning recently.

Pre-race temperatures were in the 40s when the athletes arrived at 5 a.m. for one of the country's first triathlons of the year. Bechtel and his C3 training partner, Nat Faulkner (a former pro cyclist, racing his first triathlon in 14 years), traveled 3,000 kilometres from Tucson, Arizona to their Clermont base just days before the race.

"While many people were complaining about the cold air, I'm from Canada and it was like a nice spring ride for me and my C3 teammates" said Bechtel.

Florida's Sarah McLarty and Bechtel battled for the fastest swim of the elite division, and together with Orlando's Kevin Collington and Georgia's David Silver, exited the 1-kilometre swim in just less than 12 minutes. The non-drafting 25-kilometre bike trip worked to Bechtel's strength, as the former Canadian national development team athlete got off the bike with a 90 second lead, and put in one of the day's fastest runs to easily win the overall race in a time of 1:11:03.

Bechtel had just received his new Specialized Time Trial bike the night before the race and hadn't had a chance to test it out until the morning ride.

"I can see why guys like Chris McCormack love the bike" said Bechtel.

The day's fastest bike went to Faulkner. As a former Kids of Steel champion, he has been away from the sport of triathlon for nearly 14 years.

Faulkner has bike raced for most of his adult life and the short fast Florida triathlon was his first since he was in his early teens.

"I have a lot to learn but I was excited to get on the podium in my first race" said Faulkner, who finished third overall as Orlando's Kevin Collington ran through him on the five-kilometre run.

Bechtel and Faulkner are currently training under former Olympic Coach Barrie Shepley for the Oceanside 70.3 later in March.

The junior international race was dominated by local C3 athletes.

Currently Shepley is leading a two week training camp for the High Performance Team in Clermont, Florida. Five Caledon C3 athletes factored in the overall junior race, with Tyler Bredschneider turning in the fastest swim of the day to finish second overall.

Locals Mark Bechtel, Taylor Reid and Chad Ruby finished fourth, fifth and seventh respectively. As well, first year junior, Pauline Saskrow had an amazing fourth place finish. C3 age group athlete of the year Hans Porten won the master men's 50 year old category in a very competitive field.

Sean Bechtel and the entire C3 Team will be in Caledon helping run the May 25 Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon. Individuals interested in registering their children or themselves for the local event should contact the C3 Web site at www.c3online.ca