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POY Boy...

Thursday, 21 November 2013 00:10

(Photo - L - R - The ultra-studly trio of Brendon O'Flanagan, Bob Powers and 2013 POY winner, Matthew Payne.)

2013 Performance of the Year - Men - Why did Matthew Payne's 2nd place amateur finish at New Orleans 70.3 beat out two course record performances by Kevin O'Connor and his own (Matt's) runner-up effort at the Best of the US Championships, wherein he turned in the third fastest Olympic time by a US amateur this year, for the POY trophy?

Here's a couple of reasons:

- His time--4:05:52--is probably a state amateur record. We've scoured our results archives, dating back to the early 90s, when bikes were slower and coaching and material resources were primitive by today's...

standards, and did not find a faster time. In 1998, however, Tony Schiller won the Gulf Coast Triathlon in the time of 3:53:59. A closer look reveals that the bike course was 53, not 56, miles. In Tony's defense, had the bike route not been abbreviated (due to construction), his finish time would probably have been in the 4:01-4:02 range.

- Symmetry - By this we mean that since the women who won POY trophies--Heather Lendway and Michelle Andres--did so by turning in unprecedented efforts, then Matt's performance, also (apparently) unprecedented, deserved the award. No, the other nominated efforts were not unprecedented. Matt's 70.3 PR preceded Kevin's half IM CR and his (Matt's) 1:52:54 at BOUS was his second 2nd sub-1:53. He turned in a 1:52:45 in a winning effort at the 2011 BOUS Champs in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

- Finally - This was a category wherein the voters agreed that three of the performances (Matt's BOUS and New Orleans and Kevin's Pigman) were deserving in ALMOST equal measure. In the end, it seemed appropriate that a long distance effort by the athlete who won the Long Distance AOY award, should also win the POY.

Photo - Kevin O'Connor at 2012 Lake Waconia Triathlon.