Yes, I was #17. Oof…

Some 22 athletes attended the five week USA Triathlon Elite Development Program Camp in Colorado Springs in July and August, but only three were lucky enough to win one of the EDP Camp leader’s jerseys. Matt Long from Vanderbilt bought some sweet t-shirts from a gift shop or something, and after some discussion the catagories were established:

The Yellow Jersey – The “Sally Save Up, Last One Fast One” leader’s jersey – awarded to the athlete who demonstrates on a regular basis the ability to make the last interval or repeat his or her fastest of the session. This one went to the great John Dahlz. Although “sally save up” generally indicates that only the last repeat is the fast one, I think it should be pointed out that John would actually beat everyone in most swim and run sessions and still make his last repeat the fastest of all of them all. What a beast!

The Brown Jersey – The “Matt Chrabot Haul Ass Every Daggum Day” leader’s jersey – this one goes to the athlete that goes hard in every workout, including recovery sessions. It’s named after the great Matt Chrabot who won this award retroactively for the 2007 EDP camp. Not that it doesn’t work for him – he hauls ass every day and now he’s the 5th ranked American on the World Cup circuit (outranked only by Olympians and Olympic alternates – yeah, he’s kind of a big deal!). This year Jen Spieldenner won it. She regularly beat up on the guys at swim practices, and was especially known for turning recovery workouts into 6K aerobic days.

Last but surely not least is the Green Jersey – The “Matt Long Bleed All Over the Road” Jersey. Matt seemed to have this jersey locked up after an epic crash in the Garden of the Gods that rendered his bike unrideable and kept him off the bike and out of the pool for the majority of camp (we even named the jersey after him after that crash!). However, that was before Amanda Hahn showed up at camp. Amanda ran into a tree during a group run session and ended up with several stitches in her head and perhaps a mild concussion. Trees are everywhere in Colorado. Watch out.

We had an award ceremony and everything. I downloaded the Olympic fanfare. It was pretty legit.

From left to right: Matt Long presided over the ceremonies; Jen Spieldenner, John Dahlz, Amanda Hahn.