Triathlon Winner Eludes Fouls

SOLANA BEACH —  Stephen Foster, the apparent winner of Sunday’s 10th Bud Light San Diego Triathlon, took only a couple minutes to recuperate from his 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike ride and 10-kilometer run--all of which he completed in 1 hour, 47 minutes 47 seconds--before taking a seat in front of reporters and telling them it really wasn’t as easy as he made it look.

“I’ve gone through hell the last couple years,” he said of his comeback from a broken right leg.

A while later Foster had to feel as if he had returned to hell.

Foster, along with Scott Tinley, was penalized six minutes for drafting during the bike phase. Tinley, of Del Mar, originally finished third. Both dropped out of the top five. Foster lost first-place prize money of $1,000, and Tinley was out $500.

Brad Kearns, originally second behind Foster, learned of his sudden ascension when approached by reporters about four hours after the race.

“I never like to hear that,” he said about the drafting penalties. “Once in a while certain small groups deserve to get penalized, but today the entire field was in a pack.”

The course was unusually narrow, which made it difficult for the cyclists to stay the required six feet to the side of the cyclist in front and two bike lengths behind.

“Foster wasn’t trying to cheat,” Kearns said. “To single someone out is terrible.”

Foster and Tinley were outraged.

“They should call all of us or none of us,” Tinley said. “They can’t call the rule on (a couple of) us and expect it to be fair.”

Said Foster, “I don’t believe I was guilty. But if I am, I am no more guilty than anyone else. I didn’t do anything more than anyone else. Every time someone passed me, I moved over.”

One marshal said she orally warned Foster several times, but Foster said he received only one oral warning.

“A guy passed me on the shoulder in front of me,” he said. “I made an effort and moved down to the other side of the road to what I thought was out of that zone. She yelled at me to get over and I said, ‘But I am over.’

“She said I wasn’t over enough so I moved to the other side some more. That’s the only thing I heard about.”

A race official, Mike Zugmaier, said there were several drafting citations issued, but not everyone was assessed a penalty.

“All the marshals said they gave multiple verbal warnings and didn’t cite anyone until many verbal warnings were issued.”

The contention that everyone, rather than only a couple riders, was guilty of riding in a pack was evidenced by the fact that the top eight cyclists all entered the transition area within 18 seconds of each other.

It is not unusual for the lead cyclist to finish with a gap of three minutes.

Kearns’ official winning time was 1:48:36.

Michellie Jones of Australia won the women’s race in 2:06:07, more than two minutes ahead of second-place Joy Hansen of Newtown Square, Pa.

Jones was a surprise entrant and was expecting to run in another race Sunday.

“But they dropped the prize money,” she said. “And last year when I won it, the check bounced. I’d rather not say what race it is.”

Wendy Ingrahm, another Australian, came in third at 2:08:45.