Réunion Racing

04/19/2026

🦅🦅🇺🇸💥🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 .stafford01, USAT National Champion 🥇

Race report:
USAT National MTB-Duathlon championship
(Friday)
Well it was a rocky start on Friday. You would think a mid day drive to Austin would be smooth. But no,
just about every small town had an car accident. So my time frame to pick up my race packet and pre-ride some of the bike course and pre-run the 5k section. The deadline was 6pm. And I got to race folks at 5:59. I ran up to them asking if it ok to pick up. They were so nice. So I figured I just pre-ride the 1st section. After finishing I asked where the 1st run section. I lucked out the run is same as the start of the bike. So I got a good look while riding.

(Saturday)
5am wake up.
Loaded up Jeep
Got a good spot in the transition area. So warming up and seeing all the Triathletes and Duathletes setting up it a different world compared to our local races. Half the fields had teamUSA gear or sponsors gear on. I kinda blocked it out because I researched the ones on my radar.
The start was super fast. I settled into my pace. Because I knew the bike section was going to be super hard. I had a good pace and the PaceBend rock gardens were at every turn. Racers were DNF left and right due to mechanical issues. And the ones on my radar were on the side trying fix something on the bike. And ironically I almost had my mechanical. My quick release popped open. Luckily the rear wheel started rubbing and I was able to stop and re-align and tighten the quick release. Now I’m in the thought “no more mishap” & “you have Stars and Stripes” now to start the 10k run. Feet were in shuffle mode and when a climb came up just walked but made sure to start the run after it flattened out. I kept pushing and counting out the 1/2 mile marks just keep moving. Got to the finish and one of the race director congratulated me that I was the only survivor of the 55-59. Called my name out and put me on podium and crown me 2026 national champion.

(What’s next)
So with this win. I qualified for TeamUSA to race Worlds championship in Canada in 2027.