After enduring a few years of chronic back pain, Patt Loggins is re-establishing her reputation as Charleston's top female triathlete really fast.

On Sunday, the 45-year-old won the first of four sprint triathlons in the 17th annual Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series – beating a woman young enough to be her grown daughter – in a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 41 seconds. The event features a .3-mile swim, a 13-mile bike and 3.1-mile run.

More impressive still was that Loggins was racing one week after winning the Eagleman Half Ironman 45-49 age group title, which earned her a spot in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, on Oct. 13. It will be her sixth Ironman worlds race in a decade.

As for Sunday's effort, Loggins knew what she had to do to win. The eventual second- and third- place finishers, 25-year-old Jenny McDonagh and Tracy McKee, 34, exited the swim with about a minute and 20 seconds on Loggins.

"I knew I not only had to catch them on the bike (leg) but also put enough room on them so they couldn't run me down," said Loggins, who says her running speed has suffered because she stayed away from fast running because of her back.

Another accomplished local triathlete, 26-year-old Zach Stroud, topped the men in 57:41, beating Dawson Cherry, 43, by 1:54. Stroud and Cherry were the only two of the 343 finishers to break the coveted hour mark. Stroud is training for Ironman USA in Lake Placid, N.Y., on July 22 and hopes to finish in the top five and qualify for Kona. Like Loggins, he views the sprint as an ideal fast training session for Ironman.

"It makes an Ironman pace seem easy. It (a sprint triathlon) is like 10 hours of pain wrapped up in one hour," said Stroud, with a slight grin on his face.

Regardless of his Ironman goal, he still hopes to do three of the four triathlon series. The others are on July 8, July 29 and Aug. 12.

Sunday's race featured one twist. Because of road construction on the bike course, triathletes had to dismount from their bikes and run about 80 feet (most were wear biking shoes) on a carpet-covered steel plate. The consensus was that the inconvenience cost most entrants about 45 seconds on the bike.

Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series, Race 1:

OVERALL: Male - Zach Stroud 57:41, Dawson Cherry 59:15, David Thomas 1:00:47, Hugh Myrick 1:00:53, Steve Caskie 1:01:51. Female - Patt Loggins 1:04:41, Jennifer McDonagh 1:05:23, Tracy McKee 1:05:59. MASTERS: Male - Lance Leopold 1:02:52. Female - Nancy Thomas 1:08:23. CLYDESDALE: Peter West 1:05:16. Theresa Harris 1:20:31. AGE GROUPS: (top male and female only) 15-under - Stephen Harvey 1:07:47. Haley Gupton 1:23:50. 16-19 - Cameron Gill 1:08:30. Ashley Jones 1:22:20. 20-24 - Nicholas LeBlanc 1:05:57. Virginia Pate 1:15:01. 25-29 - Oliver Sendall 1:06:29. Rachel Kozy 1:11:32. 30-34 - Clinton Adams 1:04:14. Tara Saville 1:12:13. 35-39 - Michael Owens 1:04:04. Heather Smith 1:10:28. 40-44 - Jim Daniel 1:03:24. Caroline Sinkler 1:13:57. 45-49 - Jim Thomas 1:05:52. Tricia Wilson 1:16:48. 50-54 - Rick James 1:04:27. Janet Bell 1:20:07. 55-59 Kenneth Hanger 1:12:37. No female. 60-64 - Neil Jacobs 1:16:52. Anne Boone 1:35:53. 65-69 - Richard Weatherford 1:19:21. No female. 75-79 - William Boulter 1:26:13. No female.