First, storms hit just hours before the Cooper River Bridge Run. Then, triathletes in the first East Cooper Coastal Triathlon in mid-April faced temperatures in the 40s. A week later, the Daniel Island Duathlon was plagued by cold and high winds. Then Saturday, the winds and waves cranked up again for the 2.4-mile Lowcountry Splash, causing organizers to cancel for safety reasons.

Finally, on Sunday, a little cooperation arrived from Mother Nature in time for the Family Circle Tennis Center Triathlon on Daniel Island.

Conditions were near perfect for the triathlon, which featured a .4-mile swim, 14-mile bike and 4 mile run. In fact, one triathlete noted that it's rare to have a day when its warm enough to be comfortable riding a bike yet cool enough to have feel good running.

Tom Mather, 47, of Mount Pleasant, and Sara Kraft, 33, of Charleston won the second annual event.

Mather won handily, putting more than two minutes on the second-place finisher, 24-year-old Zach Stroud (who won the East Cooper triathlon) of James Island during the run. Mather ran an amazing 22 minutes, 17 seconds for the 4-mile run, which is an average pace of 5:32 per mile.

Kraft, a past winner of a Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series race, had taken some time off from triathlon to have a baby. While she was the only woman to sign up in the open elite division (one must chose to be in either the open-elite, age group, or clydesdale/athena divisions), she still had the fastest time for women.

TEAM IN TRAINING

The local Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is starting a new round of training programs for upcoming marathons and triathlons. Organizational meetings will be 6 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Saturday at the Harper Student Center at the Medical University of South Carolina.

TnT will be offering training programs for the following events: the Greenville Triathlon sprint on Aug. 21, the Suntrust Triathlon sprint in Hilton Head Island on Sept. 10, Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach on Sept. 4, Nike Women's (women only) Marathon in San Francisco on Oct. 23, Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 30, and Adidas Dublin Marathon in Dublin, Ireland, on Oct. 31.

TRI, RUNNING CLINICS

Two local running stores are offering training clinics, which will start in early June.

The Extra Mile store in Charleston will conduct a 16-week triathlon training clinic that will include two training sessions a week, a weekly training schedule, swim stroke training, a racing singlet, training log, equipment advice and the entry fee to the Kiawah Island Triathlon in September. The cost is $300. The initial sign-up meeting is 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 1. Call 853-9987 for information.

On The Run store will be holding its annual Lowcountry Distance Runners Clinic for high school students ages 13-18. The four-day clinic will be 7 a.m.-9 a.m. June 6-9 starting from the store. The cost is $100.

The clinic includes a body composition test, video analysis, talks on topics such as form running, nutrition, strength training, core conditioning, training techniques, and proper stretching/injury prevention along with group runs, a Puma T-shirt and a chance to win Puma running shoes. Call 856-4206 for information.

TOUR DE CURE

The last day to pre-register for the American Diabetes Society's South Carolina Tour de Cure Lowcountry Challenge is Friday. The two-day, 150-mile bicycle ride from downtown Columbia to James Island County Park via St. George will be June 4-5. See www.diabetes.org/tour.

COMING UP/RESULTS

SATURDAY -- The Charleston Triathlon Club New Wave Biathlon and Ocean Swim. 7:45 a.m. The beach near The Windjammer on the Isle of Palms. $35 for biathlon (3/4-mile ocean swim, 5K beach run) and $25 for 3/4-mile ocean swim. Call 853-9987 for more information.

The Family Circle Triathlon was held Sunday on Daniel Island. 96 complete the triathlon and 23 competed on triathlon relay teams. See rmssports.com for complete results and split times.

OVERALL: Male -- Tom Mather 1:10:33, Zachary Stroud 1:13:06, Steve Fitch 1:13:21. Female -- Sara Kraft 1:25:47. MASTERS: Male -- Scott Gress 1:16:23. Female -- Nancy Thomas 1:27:32. AGE GROUPS (Male/Female): 15-under -- Charles King 1:53:54. No female. 16-19 -- Kellen Thayer 1:50:59. Loring Ward 2:10:05. 20-24 -- Matthew Kaplan 1:30:52. Jami Schaffner 1:28:40. 25-29 -- David Cook 1:26:17. Kathleen Buss 1:37:52. 30-34 -- Matthew Baranoski 1:25:10. Tracy Dewitt 1:34:17. 35-39 -- Jim Daniel 1:23:10. Dana Pellizzari 1:28:20. 40-44 -- David Quick 1:28:08. Jane West 1:39:09. 45-49 -- James Scheer 1:22:00. Christine Case 1:52:54. 50-54 -- William Troy 1:30:51. Susan Chagrin 2:33:47. 55-59 -- David Andrews 1:32:51. Barbara Dillman 2:05:28. 60-64 -- Neil Jacobs 1:47:17. No female.

Contact David Quick at dquick@postandcourier.com or 937-5516.