Endorphin Fitness athletes win USA Triathlon Youth and Junior National Championship
Four athletes from Henrico-based Endorphin Fitness won a national title at the USA Triathlon Youth and Junior National Championship event in West Chester, Ohio earlier this month.
Endorphin’s A team of Josie Nunziata, Jonas Yiengst, Ellie Harlow, and Joren Aardema-Gagnon, all age 17, won the championship Mixed Team Relay race in a time of 1 hour, 7 minutes, 41 seconds – 11 seconds better than runner-up Caliber Endurance from Texas. It was the first win in the event for Endorphin after 20n years of competing in it at the national level.
In the event, two female and two male athletes team up, each racing their own swim, bike, and run before tagging the next teammate.
In addition to their performance, Endorphin (led by head coach Michael Harlow) also placed eight athletes in the top 10 of their events, while five others earned top-10 finishes in age group races. And it earned a third-place team performance in the elite draft-legal races. In all, 42 Endorphin Fitness athletes competed at the event.
Ellie Harlow and Caden Browning each earned third place in USAT’s Junior National Series in the Junior Elite Female and Youth Elite Male categories, respectively. The award is based on cumulative points from the national championship and five other Junior Cup races this season.
