Oscar “Oz” Sanchez (Member of 2008 U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team competing in Beijing)

AmateurEndurance: How was the race today?
Oz: It was good. I felt good; this was my first time doing this one. I just broke into the triathlon world, because cycling is my meat and potatoes. I’ve been with the US Paralympic Team since ‘05. I’m going to Beijing. But, Challenged Athletes Foundation, my sponsor, I fall under the Operation Rebound specifically, has a vested interest, and their footprint is in the triathlon arena, and they own the San Diego Triathlon Challenge so it was in their best interest to have a top athlete there. I want to diversify. I’m good at swimming, I’m good at cycling, why not do the triathlon thing? I went to the New York and took first place in my division that was my second triathlon. It’s a bright future and we anticipate that by 2012 they will have the triathlon as a Paralympic sport, so that’s just another opportunity for medals. Everybody’s happier. It’s a huge learning curve on the push chair still, but I’m strong enough physically to make up for the lack of experience on it, so it will only get progressively better. This was my third triathlon in a row since last Sunday. Carlsbad, New York, this, then I leave for Beijing on the 17th of next month. Well, I’ll leave for Colorado Springs, for training camp, and then fly out to Beijing on the 2nd, get back on the 20th of September. Then I believe the Mission Bay Triathlon is right in that timeframe. Then I go to San Antonio for the Rock n Roll marathon there, and then there’s another triathlon when I get back, the Silverman in Vegas. Pretty much any triathlon I can fit into the arena now, I will be at. And the Challenge Athlete Foundation helps with everything. All I have to do is show up and race.

AE: Did you have a plan for your race today?
Oz: Go hard, go fast, go strong. Chase whoever I can down, but basically I know I’m on a learning curve with the push chair specifically and a learning curve with the layout of triathlons themselves. Carlsbad is unique, this is unique, New York is unique. Every single one has a transition space, and because of the challenged athletes side of it you have to worry about your folks taking you from the beach to the shoreline, through the sand. So it’s more of a learning curve, I’m not trying to be at the top of my game. It’s more of just learn the ropes, learn the event, and then next year when I come back again, then my focus will be to make sure that I have everything in order, that everything goes according to plan. And again, just work on my transition times.

AE: Do you feel like you’ve gotten more experience in the last couple weekends?
Oz: I see progressively from two Sundays ago, to last Sunday, to now…the bike is the bike. I’m already good at that, but the push chair is really what I’m getting progressively better at. Just from two Sundays ago until now I see a significant difference. I find myself being able to push more, where the first event two Sundays ago, and even New York… I mean you thought that the steering was bad today, but two Sundays ago it was ridiculous. I was cussing and cursing.

AE: What’s your favorite part of doing triathlon so far?
Oz: The ability or the fact that it’s a very diverse sport; it’s three events. And, beating able-bodied guys. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point, because of transitional things, where I can be riding alongside of the elite guys. But, I know I can hang with a lot of them on the bike but it’s just being able to get to the point where I can leave the bike corral right around the same time they do. And that…will I ever be able to achieve that because of transitional issues? Not likely. But in New York, I was only 7 minutes away from qualifying for the elite category, because you have to be sub-2:30 in order to make it in the elite able-bodied. And then above elite is Pro, obviously. You know again, my time on the race chair was forty-seven minutes. The point that I’m trying to get across is that I suck at this wheelchair thing. The sponsor here sponsors all the top wheelchair athletes going to Beijing, and he’s like once you get better, you’ll cut that time in half. So if you consider that in the game, I’ll probably be sub-two and a quarter at New York. For a disabled athlete, sub-2:15 would make me number one regardless of disability. There was a blind guy, who took first place last week, but he’s on a tandem on a bike too, and the pilot’s actually pedaling. So that’s two guys, and I’ll beat that guy and I’ll have bragging rights. And so, that’s my plan.

AE: If you were to do this race again next year would you do anything differently?
Oz: Yeah, I’d be in better shape for the push chair. The transition, my family was here helping me out, which I wanted. Because they had volunteers, but I know my dad’s here, in-laws here, so they did a good job dragging me up the hill. I think everything went pretty smooth. My transition times I could probably work on, obviously, and again the biggest thing is the race chair, just get better at the race chair. Because I do have a lot of wasted time. Because if I’m not pushing, I’m losing speed. I’m working on the steering and everything, but it’s a learning curve. Third time on it wasn’t that bad of a performance. I wear socks so my feet don’t get chafed on the footrest, so I think what I’m going to do is get a onesie that has just one piece, all the way through. So I can jump in the water with it and not have to worry about getting dressed other than just the gloves and helmet. And I could be out of the gates. And eventually, not even use gloves on the bike at all so that the only thing I’m donning when I get out of the water is a helmet and when I get on the bike, the race chair is just put on gloves and that will cut off a significant amount of time. Because at this point I’m putting my gloves on, my helmet, doo-rag, my socks, glasses, that’s all wasted time, wasted movements. Just getting those ideas as I’m going through. How can I speed up? Expedite the process, so I can shave a few minutes off, hopefully so.

AE: What are you looking forward to in China?
Oz: Medaling. I’m not happy with just attending the Games. Anybody can just go, well not anybody. It’s a good feat just to attend, but I don’t go for mediocrity, I go for top performances. There’s two events, a time trial and the road race which is a marathon distance. I’m gunning for the fastest man in the world title, and that’s the time trial. The fastest man wins. Whereas in the road race, it’s anybody’s race kind of deal. Because of my performances in the past, and my teammates, and who I raced and everything, I have a really good chance of getting a medal in the time trial, so that’s what I’m going for.

AE: Good luck, thank you.
Oz: Thank you.

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Caue Suplicy (Overall Race Winner)

AE: How was your race today?
Caue Suplicy: It was alright. I won, so I guess it was good.

AE: I saw you race last weekend as well, at Camp Pendleton.
CS: Yes, I wound up taking second in that one. I thought I had a five minute lead on the second guy, but I didn’t know that the second guy was in the second wave. So he was right behind me. I even slowed down on the course, but I didn’t know he was beating me. It was fine, it was a fun race. That was my first race back, I did Encinitas eight weeks ago and I wound up crashing the race, I hit a guy so I was out for a while.

AE: How do you feel about today?
CS:I drank a little bit of salt water, so I wasn’t 100 percent. But I still had a minute on the second guy. So it was good, I felt good on the bike.

AE: Did you have a plan coming in for today?
CS: The plan was to go hard and win, and I did it. I did.

AE: You’ve been racing a lot lately?
CS: Just started again, after the crash. But I will be racing a lot; I try to do the local races here.

AE: What’s next for you?
CS: I will be going to Brazil next week, because there is a guy going to the Olympics with my bike in the triathlon. So I’m going to have to bring him the bike.

AE: Are you going to be able to go to Beijing?
CS: Oh no, I wish. I will go to Brazil, bring the bike, and transition and come back and whatever else I feel.

AE: What was the best part of today’s race?
CS: When I crossed the finish line. I felt really good in the swim too, I was leading the whole way. Just toward the end there were some big waves, and I looked back and the guys behind me were waiting for the waves. So they caught a wave and those guys passed me, and I was under the water. Suddenly I was under the water. They passed me. So I kept swimming, and I got my own wave, and I was able to close the gap. I have a really fast transition; I was first out of transition.

AE: Great, thank you.

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Amanda Felder (2008 Collegiate National Champion)

AE: How do you feel about your race today?
Amanda Felder: My swim was alright. There were a lot of waves out there and I kind of I swallowed a lot of salt water. I’m not the best at that. And we started with all the guys, so that was a bit of a challenge too.

AE: How about the run up that hill?
AF: I was prepared for it. I’ve done this race before, so I knew it was coming. It still is kind of a shock to your system after swimming. My bike went pretty good, I was happy with that. And my run was; it was alright. Not my best friend, but I’m coming off an injury, so I’m happy with that one.

AE: Did you have a race plan for today?
AF: Nothing too detailed. I wanted to be out in the front in the swim, because our wave was so big it was important to get ahead of the slower swimmers. I got ahead of some people but there were quite a few people in front of me. I wanted to test myself on the bike and just do what I could do on the run. And, it went alright.

AE: I hear you’re the Collegiate National champion, congratulations. What exactly does that mean?
AF: There’s a race every year that’s for collegiate students and that includes undergrad and graduate students, I think even some technical students can go too. It’s once a year. This year it was in Alabama; Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There are a thousand people in the race, and so all the schools come together and duke it out.

AE: What’s on the schedule next for you?
AF: I have an ITU race up in Canada; ITU is the draft legal triathlon. So the swim’s really important, so you get in a good group on the bike, and then the run’s really important.

AE: What’s your goal for that?
AF: I’d like to be top 10. I think coming off an injury that’s a good goal.

AE: Great, thank you. Congratulations!

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Jeff Aller (Amateur Age Grouper)

AE: Have you done Solana Beach Tri before?
Jeff Aller: No.

AE: What did you think, how did it go today?
JA: It went pretty well. I felt pretty tired after each of the transitions just switching sports. But then, just gradually got into it and felt better, especially on the second loop on the run, felt really good.

AE: What’s your experience with triathlon?
JA: This is my second sprint triathlon. I did Mission Bay two years ago.

AE: So this was your second race ever?
JA: Yes, for triathlon. And I think it went pretty well. I still have to see my times, but it looked pretty good. I got a 1:13 on the finish, so I’m guessing that was about a 1:03 because I started in the second wave.

AE: How was the swim?
JA: Good, I felt really tired towards the end, but finished strong. Stayed outside of the group, didn’t really have to deal with many people. Stayed out on the outer edge. People were passing me on the boat ramp, but I made it up.

AE: Did you have a goal or a plan going into today?
JA: I was hoping for about one hour, and I came in pretty close to that, so I’m happy.

AE: What’s your background, or what got you into triathlon?
JA: I’ve been doing some marathons and half-marathons so far. And then, just got interested in doing triathlons. Picked this one, it’s great, short distance, pretty easy to transfer into from running.

AE: Do you have any other races coming up?
JA: I’ll probably do the Mission Bay again this year, planning to do that. And then next year we’ll see what I’m feeling like.

AE: Good, congratulations.
JA: Thank you.