(06/17/2009) Everything went swimmingly at the Robert J. Aaron Memorial Triathlon in Montauk Saturday morning.
 Jack Graves
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“The water was as warm as it’s ever been,” said one of the local competitors, Mike Bottini. “It was a little choppy — at 7, when they used to start, it was like glass — but that’s just a quibble. The conditions were as perfect as they’ve ever been.”
Merle MacDonald-Aaron, the race director, agreed. All, she said, had gone well, without incident, thanks in large part to the East Hampton Town Police Department, the Ocean Rescue Squad, Phoenix House volunteers, and many other volunteers.
A 46-year-old, Bill Kelly of Chatham, N.J., a member of New York City’s Full Throttle triathlon team, was the winner, besting 548 other finishers in 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 46.9 seconds.
After crossing the line, Kelly, who outkicked his 26-year-old training partner and teammate, Andrew Kalley of New York City, in the final half-mile of the 10-kilometer run, said he was the oldest triathlete ever to win at Montauk. When this writer mentioned Chuck Sperazza, a multiple Montauk winner who’s now 51 and reportedly living in California, Kelly said, with a smile, “He was 45 when he won, and Eben Jones [another multiple champion] was 44.”
It was a sweep for Full Throttle that day: The women’s winner was a teammate of Kelly and Kalley’s, 28-year-old Allison Lind of New York City, whose time was 2:05:39.3.
Lind, who was 27th over all, said she had come to triathloning from marathoning (her best being 2:55). “I was fourth or fifth out of the water,” she said, when questioned. “I was second off the bike, I think. . . . It’s a tough course.”
It was, she said, her first season of triathloning, and her first Olympic-distance race. Next for her, she said, is the Providence Half-Ironman on July 12.
“I have to work on the bike — that’s the most unfamiliar to me,” she added, in answer to a question.
 Jack Graves
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She was, she said, sidelined for six months recently after having broken her pelvis. “I’m a physical therapist, but I’m like the shoemaker who never makes shoes for himself. Believe me, it’s no fun being on crutches in New York.”
When told that Kelly had been the oldest winner ever at Montauk, she said, “But he’s the youngest looking!”
Brooks Clark, a 42-year-old former pro from West Chester, Pa., who won here in 2000, defeating the legendary Jones by one minute (Clark had lost to Jones by 39 seconds in the 1996 race), was the first out of the water and first in on the bike, but he was overtaken by Kelly and Kalley in the run. He wound up in fifth place in 1:54:45.4 when net times were reckoned.
He had won the swim last year, as well, said Clark, “but I had to walk half of the run with a calf pull. I finished, though [in 51st place]. I was happy not to have any calf problems this time.”
On the 22-mile bike leg to Montauk Point and back to the Star Island Causeway staging area on West Lake Drive he had had to motion the lead vehicle to speed up at times when he was swinging around turns, “but that’s not unusual in triathlons,” he said.
Kelly said he had been doing this race for 20 years, “finishing anywhere from 10th to second. I was second in 2007. I skipped last year.”
“I told him before the race that this was his year,” MacDonald-Aaron said. “I was so excited he won.”
Kelly said he was “probably 10th out of the swim. I came in third off the bike.” He and his training partner, who said Kelly was “amazing,” stayed together pretty much on the run, with Kelly outkicking Kalley in the last half-mile.
“He’s been triathloning as long as I’ve been alive,” said Kalley.
Clark did the mile swim in 19 minutes and 32 seconds. Kelly had the fastest bike split, at 48:29 (Kalley’s time was 48:33), and was third fastest in the run at 37:41.
The defending champion, David Powers, 41, of New York City and Wainscott, finished sixth this time, in 1:55:23.6.
John Broich, who’s 48 and lives in Sag Harbor, was the local winner, finishing 38th in 2:08:52.4. He was 46th last year in 2:11:52.5.
“If only I knew how to swim!” said 42-year-old Mike Bahel of Amagansett when he crossed the line in 2:09:55.0, good for 42nd place.
Bottini, 54, of Springs, was 48th, in 2:10:56.0. Chris Reich, 22, was the Montauk winner, in 2:12:04.5. He was 54th over all.
Nadine Crane Morris, 31, of Shirley, last year’s runner-up, led all the women out of the water, but wound up finishing third, behind Lind and Kristin Budden, 31, of Rye Brook, N.Y., last year’s third-place finisher. Budden was 36th over all in 2:08:26.8. Morris, who said she was under the weather that day, placed 59th in 2:12:36.0.
Besides Broich, Bahel, Bottini, and Reich, other local competitors Saturday were the 24-year-old Ahearn twins, Brian (41st) and Kevin (85th), David Whelan, 54, of Sag Harbor (57th), John McGeehan, 58, of Montauk (255th), and James Amaden, 39, of East Hampton (306th).
Steve Tarpinian, who under the aegis of Team Total Training trains triathletes and promotes triathlons on the East End, said that the North Fork triathlon is to be held in Southold on July 12, that the Mighty Hamptons triathlon is to be held at Long Beach in Noyac on Sept. 13, and that the Montauk Sprint and Half-Ironman triathlons are to be held in Montauk on Oct. 3 and 4.
“People are coming from all over the country,” he said. “There will be more than 1,000 at Mighty Hamptons and at the ones in Montauk.”
The recession, he said, had not cut into triathloning’s popularity. “People may give up a dinner out, but not a race.”