Huntington High School physical education teacher Jamie Fishlow and incoming sophomore Hadley Clayton turned in impressive performances at the Smith Point Triathlon in Shirley.
Fishlow finished fourth in a field of 26 in the 55-59 year old male division and 62nd overall out of 487 finishers. An experienced triathlete, he was 55th out of 268 men overall. Clayton placed second in a field of nine in the 14-18 female division and was 25th out of 219 women that finished and 124th overall among the nearly 500 competitors.
The triathlon began at Smith Point County Park with a 500 meter open water swim. A flat and fast 16K bicycle ride over the Smith Point Bridge to Wertheim National Refuge and back was followed by a scenic 5K run over the bridge ending at the Atlantic Ocean.
Fishlow completed the triathlon in a time of 1:05:31, just nine seconds off the third place finisher’s time. The veteran Huntington faculty member turned in the fastest bike time of all 26 competitors in his age category, clocking out at 25:44 minutes. He had the second fastest swim time, coming across the finish line in 13:21.
Jamie Fishlow with sophomore Hadley Clayton
at the Smith Point Triathlon.
Clayton was also magnificent. The 15 year old completed the triathlon in a swift 1:10:31, a mere eight seconds off the first place time of Theresa Mattei of New Hyde Park. The Huntington teenager finished the triathlon strong, winning the 5K run segment by 2½ minutes.
“It was my first adult triathlon and I loved it,” Clayton said. “Going into it I was pretty nervous, but once the race started I felt great and just relaxed and had fun.”
The event was sanctioned by USA Triathlon, the national governing body for the sport. Participants began arriving at the competition site shortly after 5 a.m. The first wave went off in the water at 6:50 a.m. Spectators stood on the beach and crowded onto a long pier that extended out into the water.
Fishlow plans to retire from his teaching position in June 2017, but intends to continue coaching varsity boys’ and girls’ tennis. He is a very experienced triathlete who also trains and coaches other triathletes.
Clayton runs on the Blue Devil cross country, winter and spring track teams. Her coaches believe she possesses enormous potential.
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A week after her award winning performance at the Smith Point Triathlon, Clayton was back at it, this time in the Runner’s Edge-TOBAY (Town of Oyster Bay) Triathlon.
The Huntington sophomore won the 14-18 year old division in a time of 1:18:30. Clayton was 24th overall among the 238 females of all ages that finished the competition. She placed 128th out of 740 men and women who completed the triathlon. The next youngest female finisher was 22 years old.
Clayton completed the one-half mile swim in Oyster Bay Harbor in 18:29 minutes. She finished the 15K bike segment through Oyster Bay, Laurel Hollow and Cove Neck in 33:53 and ran the 5K component through Mill Neck, Brookville, Planting Fields Arboretum and back to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in 23:46.
