Danielle O’Dell, Tim Ely, Mike Allen, Andrew Kallfelz and Andrea Brayman get ready for the start of the Amica 70.3 Ironman Rhode Island competition at Roger Wheeler Beach last Sunday. Photo courtesy of the Kallfelz family More than 1,300 athletes from around the world flocked to Rhode Island last Sunday for the Amica Ironman competition, and several Jamestown residents were at the forefront of the action.

The Amica Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island was supposed to kick off Sunday morning at 6 a.m. with a 1.2-mile swim at Roger Wheeler State Beach in Narragansett, but the swim start was postponed because a storm early that morning left the seas unusually rough.

The surf was so rough that race officials offered competitors a chance to opt out of the swim portion of the race.

“There were people around me in the chute at the start of the race that were veteran Ironman participants that said they had never heard that offered before,” island resident Andrew Kallfelz said. “I didn’t start until Wave 12 and there were several people in the waves before me who had to be pulled out on surfboards.”

Jamestowner Andrea Brayman said the rough surf was an intimidating way to start the race. “I had competed in a triathlon in the fall that started at Narragansett Beach and that was fine. This was so much more intense because you had to swim straight out into the waves and you couldn’t see anything in front of you.”

Brayman said her fear of the ocean was the one thing that had made her hesitant to compete in triathlons in the past. “I was bounced around so much that by the time I got out of the water and went to make my transition to the bike, I was a little disoriented. I wasn’t quite sure what to do,” she said.

The 56-mile bike race was a strength for Kallfelz, who earned the fastest bike split in his age group and the 14th fastest split overall. “I came into the race more undertrained on the bike than anything else. I had a good split, but I pushed it so hard on the bike that it cost me in the run,” he said.

Brayman was most comfortable with the run portion of the race and posted an eight-minute mile pace for the 13.1-mile run. The route for the run was two laps around Providence, including two runs up steep College Hill.

“The great thing about the Ironman and triathlons in general is that as a whole, the participants are so supportive and encouraging,” Kallfelz said.

“It was definitely motivating to hear people who were competing against you encouraging you. They genuinely want you to do your best, even if it means beating them,” Brayman said.

Kallfelz and Brayman trained for the competition together starting in November and said that being able to keep up with the intense training schedule was due in large part to supportive families. “We would swim at least two days a week, run three to four times a week and bike at least three times a week,” Kallfelz said. “The people around us sacrifice a lot so we can keep this training schedule and we would not have been able to do this without their support.”

Both Kallfelz and Brayman competed in the Rhode Island race hoping to earn a spot at the Ironman 70.3 championships in Clearwater, Fla., on Nov. 14.

“There are a certain number of slots offered for each age group and that number can change right up to race day,” Brayman said. In her age group, there were only two slots available for 84 athletes and there was no roll-down. A roll-down is where the top finishers have already qualified for the championships at another race, so the available slots “roll down” to the next competitors that have not qualified.

Brayman finished 12th in her age bracket and was the third Rhode Island female finisher overall with a time of 5:17:45.

Kallfelz finished ninth in his age group and through the rolldown process, earned a slot in the championships. His time was 4:35:04.

“Just having my kids and my husband at the finish made it all worthwhile,” Brayman said.

But there is no break in training now for either Brayman or Kallfelz. Both have already started running again, and said they would like to compete in a full triathlon in the future.

Other Jamestown finishers in the race included Mark Matoes, who finished 51st in his age group with a time of 7:07:17 and Dennis Nixon, who finished 25th in his age bracket with a time of 7:09:02.