New London Tube: Amica 19.7 Triathlon

On July 15, the returned to to test athletes from around the country in a grueling course. Today's video pick features a collection of photographs showcasing the difficulties and the rewards of such an undertaking.

The New London race is one of nine events held in the Amica 19.7 Race Series, with others taking place in Boston, Boulder, Charlotte, Dallas, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Portland (Oregon), and Newport. The races tend to be on the challenging side, ranging from a 10 kilometer run to a half marathon.

As for the New London race, Ocean Beach makes a good starting and ending point for sending the triathlon around southern New London and Waterford. It starts with a half-mile swim in Long Island Sound, proceeds to a 16.1-mile bike ride, and ends with a five kilometer run. Wouldn't you know it, that's 19.7 miles all told.

The top finisher in this year's competition was Tim Skeiskal of Naugatuck, who had a time of 1:13:50. He appears about a quarter of the way into the slideshow, albeit with the time showing him a second faster than the official one (he was just about two minutes ahead of the next contender anyway). The top women's finisher appears about 20 seconds later in the video. Elaina Mertens of Agawam, Mass. had a time of 1:25:42.

The results show a total of 17 finishers from New London, including Superintendent Sandra Stosz of the . The top hometown participant was Casey Neistat, who finished 12th with a time of 1:20:38.

These photos were taken by Steve McLaughlin, a professional sports photographer who also put together this video. You can check out the full range of photos he took at the triathlon - 248 in total - on his website.

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