With a little revenge in mind, Marco’s Craig Carlson raced and won while completing his 100th triathlon.

The triathlon in Clearwater was a sprint, where competitors swam a half mile, rode 12 miles on a bike and finished with a 3.1-mile run.

He won his age class, 70-74 and garnered a little revenge at the same time. His triathlon time was 1:23.

“Last year there was a guy, Mark Parish, who beat me by 50 seconds,” Carlson recalled. “This time I took him by four minutes,” he said with a victory chuckle. “Overall, I just prepared better for the race.”

His 99th race, also a sprint, was at St. Petersburg.

“The conditions were good, but we swam three-quarters of a mile, instead of a half mile,” Carlson said. “But the Gulf had its usual chop and the wind was moderate.”

Carlson finished in 1:27 and again won his class.

When asked about the number of races in the St. Petersburg-Tampa Bay area, Carlson said, “It is a hot bed for races. The climate is usually cool and they have good race directors.”

Carlson will kick back a bit as he waits for the St. Anthony’s (Hospital) Triathlon at the end of April, again in St. Petersburg.

“This is the largest race in the country and is an Olympic Triathlon,” he said. “This will be the 26th year of the race and 48 states and about 15 countries will turn out.”

In an Olympic race competitors swim a mile, bike 24.8 miles and 6.2-mile run.

In a typical training week for Carlson he will swim 3.5 miles in the Gulf, bike 75 miles and run 28 miles.

In the last St. Anthony race Carlson came in third in his age group.

“Finishing better than third is my new target,” he said.

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