Mom/Daughter tri-day ends with hardware

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

CAMP BLANDING - The McWatters; mom, Lynne, and daughter, Kayleigh, have been part of a very athletic kitchen table at home and a chance to compete in a tough race with each other in the race was a blessing of sorts for Lynne McWatters. Both won plaques at the H.O.T. Triathlon sprint races at Camp Blanding on Sunday.
"I train hard in my occupation as a sports physical training coach (ShipShapeStrong.com) and to be able to stay in shape and then to be able to be in the same race as one of my daughters is pretty special," said Lynne McWatters, 48. "Kayleigh had been a great athlete in high school at Middleburg High in four sports; cross country, soccer, swimming and track, then did well in college cross country at Florida State College-Jacksonville with a ticket to the junior college nationals. We trained together for this and then both of us did well. It was a great day."
On hand to cheer the McWatters were members of the Middleburg High state champion volleyball team as well as their coach, Meredith Forkum.
"I like to be able to show the high school athletes that I train (Middleburg volleyball) that I have a bit of 'street cred' with a race like this," said McWatters. "They know that I keep to my training as hard as push them for their sport. They stayed for the whole race and cheered me and Kayleigh as well as a former Middleburg High volleyball standout, Jenna Bemis, who was competing in her first triathlon."
At the triathlon, Kayleigh, 20, was winning her age group while finishing as third female overall, Lynne McWatters was hammering away to a top overall masters title with a 43rd overall finish in the race.
The sprint triathlon consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, a 12 mile bike and a 3.1 mile road run.
For Kayleigh McWatters, her swim and bike times got her on to the run in second place female, but slipping to third female with a 1:21.57.7 split; well ahead of second place in her age group by over 22 minutes.
"I had a good swim and bike because it was nice weather this time," said Kayleigh McWatters. "I've done this before and it is usually very hot here."
In the sprint race, overall female champion Ciana Bonfiglio came out of the lake behind McWatters with McWatters also splitting faster on the bike, but Bonifiglio was unbeatable on the run with a 20:54 split to McWatters' 25:46.
Out of the swim, second-place finisher Janine Ransom, 36, of Ponte Vedra, dominated both the swim and bike but fell to a 26:34 run split that was enough to catch McWatters for second.
For Lynne McWatters, a swim split of 15:06 gave her an early lead into the race with a strong 40:56 bike and solid 28:52 run to win best master's athlete.