by Lisa Lynam

This feature is a continuation of the post-race coverage of the Capital of Texas Triathlon in the July issue of Runner Triathlete News. For complete details on that event, pick up a copy of the July issue of RTN.

Accomplished runner and RunTex store owner Paul Carrozza put his money and muscle behind this year's Capital of Texas Triathlon. RunTex supported the event as the major sponsor and the 39-year- old Carrozza dipped into Town Lake to test out the triathlon waters. He officially joined the triathlon family by completing the First Tri with hundreds of other newbies.

Carrozza on the Capital:
I thought it was time that the Capital of Texas Triathlon got down to the Capitol. I was excited that the city went with it so well with a combination of the Parks and Recreation department and the City Council approving of swimming in Town Lake which hadn't been done before. But with the improved water quality and the confidence in the organizing committee, I think the city felt it was time. Our goal is to really make it an international event. Really, I hope that it gets to the Ironman level as far as prestige - hard to get in to and it sells out in a weekend kind of thing.

It's one of those deals where you know it's the right thing and once you pull the trigger you just get nervous until you see it. You just hope that with the criterium course with so many turns that with runners and bikers on the same course that it all works out well and luckily it did. I think I've heard of a few road rashes but nothing major.

Doing the First Tri myself gave me confidence in the course. I didn't have to hear it second hand from people. I was probably the worst case scenario. I was passing so many people - probably 100 people on the swim and 100 people on the bike and run so I got to see what it was like coming from behind and there was plenty of room on the roads and the turns weren't crowed. It was a great event. The volunteers were great. Having them in bright green shirts you could see them everywhere. One of the things with the race closing was that it increased our volunteerism. We were going into the week short on volunteers but by closing the event we had instant volunteers. It worked out well. We'll have to debrief after and see what we think the current course will hold and meet with the city to see what their feelings are and set a cap for next year. It will be sold out.

Carrozza on his first triathlon:
I can see how it's addictive. I had swam the open water swim in Town Lake to prove you could swim in Town Lake. I wore a wetsuit and goggles. I haven't swam or road a bike in twenty years. Today I went goggle-less, wetsuit-less and ran in my running shorts. I just started slow and then I made it up on the bike and run. I could see myself getting into it as a sport. I've always known how to coach running, I see how much of it is an endurance sport and not a speed sport. That's probably the thing I learned most. Speed is important to maintain your biomechanics but it's definitely an endurance sport. I felt the same through all three sports.

Carrozza on getting the city to approve of swimming in Town Lake and closing roads around the Capitol:
I felt like I knew I could. We've worked so hard and long with our relationship with the city and they know when we say we'll do something we'll follow through on it so I was glad to be the guy that did it. I had been asked to be on the board of the Austin Parks Foundation (benefiting charity for the event) and when we started talking about defining this weekend (Parks Fest on Memorial Day weekend), I thought it would be really smart to have the triathlon this weekend. We have a world class concert venue that we could utilize the day after the concert. If we had to set it up ourselves it would be another $100,000 in overhead. So we came in under the umbrella of the Parks Fest and we were able to utilize the equipment and make it affordable.

Carrozza on his TriTex team of Andrea Fisher, Jamie Cleveland and James Bonney:
I'd like to be successful at training athletes. I grew up cycling and I coached swimming 20 years ago. I coached a development swim team in Ausitn and the UT Longhorn kids program. With the TriTex team I think it's exciting for me because we actually train together. I'm there to truly support them, not just financially but with the full relationship. I want to give them the opportunity to work and train and travel. It's like a built in fan club.