Duathlon National Champs Set For Saturday In Bend

Nearly 650 of the nation’s top run-bike-run athletes are slated to compete for national titles and world championship team spots this Saturday in Bend, Oregon, at the 2016 USA Triathlon Duathlon National Championships, set at Summit High School.

Read the preview from USA Triathlon below:

Action will get underway at 7:30 a.m. PT with a standard-distance 10-kilometer run, 40-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run course, followed by a sprint 5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run beginning at 1 p.m. PT.

After winning a duathlon world title earlier this month, Kirsten Sass (McKenzie, Tenn.) will compete this weekend seeking to defend her overall standard and sprint Duathlon Nationals titles won last year in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sass, who was also a Duathlon Nationals champion in 2014, is one of 23 defending age-group champions on the start list for Saturday’s National Championship event.

RELATED: Add Variety To Your Training With Duathlon

Standard-Distance Defending Champions

David Burkhart (60-64, Brighton, Mich.)
Vanessa Cook (45-49, Lansing, Mich.)
Bridget Dawson (55-59, San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
Patricia Driscoll (60-64, Stowe, Vt.)
James Hannon (55-59, Rochester, Minn.)
Wolf Hillesheim (70-74, El Sobrante, Calif.)
Manuela Knispel (40-44, Shorewood, Minn.)
Vicki McCloskey (65-69, Henniker, N.H.)
Matthew Payne (35-39 and overall men’s champion, Golden Valley, Minn.)
Kirsten Sass (35-39 and overall women’s champion, McKenzie, Tenn.)
Jennifer Scudiero (30-34, Eagan, Minn.)

Sprint Defending Champions

Celia Dubey (40-44, Tarpon Springs, Fla.)
Kerry Farrell (55-59, Auburn, Wash.)
Derek Hager (50-54, Minneapolis, Minn.)
Keith Jackson (20-24, Roseland, Va.)
Rosalind Jarrett Sepulveda (65-69, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Heysoon Lee (70-74, Morristown, N.J.)
Geraldine Lupini (50-54, Milford, Mich.)
Mike McCarty (70-74, New Bedford, Mass.)
David Morrow (60-64, Tarpon Springs, Fla.)
Christine Quantz (45-49, Soap Lake, Wash.)
Kirsten Sass (35-39 and overall women’s champion, McKenzie, Tenn.)
Lindsey Torgerson (25-29, Laredo, Texas)

Eleven elite duathletes, including defending Elite Duathlon Nationals champion Patrick Parish (Minneapolis, Minn.) will compete in the standard-distance event along with nearly 350 amateur duathletes. Nearly 300 athletes are signed up for the sprint event, including two paraduathletes.

In total, the nearly 650 duathletes on the start list hail from 41 states and Washington, D.C., with 98 athletes representing the state of Oregon, and 131 athletes coming from California. Race ages range from 15 to 86-year-old Lew Hollander (Redmond, Ore.). Twenty athletes are registered to compete at both race distances.

Duathlon Nationals competitors may qualify for the 2017 ITU Multisport World Championships Festival in Penticton, British Columbia, where world championship titles will be awarded to duathletes competing in standard and draft-legal sprint events. In the standard National Championship race, the top 18 finishers in each age-group, rolling down to 25th place, will qualify for Team USA. In the sprint race, at least the top eight finishers will qualify per age group, and additional spots will be awarded at a draft-legal duathlon qualification event later this year.

The complete schedule, as well as course maps, can be found at usatriathlon.org/usatdu16.