Man, 80, Dies After Completing Race

An 80-year-old man died Sunday just moments after he crossed the finish line of the Surf Town Triathlon & Duathlon in Imperial Beach.

Kendall Webb died after he completed the race, according to his family. Webb is known throughout San Diego because of his longtime working as a San Diego section commissioner for the California Interscholastic Federation in the 1980s. He held the position for more than 20 years.

An Imperial Beach sheriff's sergeant said Webb collapsed at around 8:30 a.m. at 1000 Seacoast Dr.

Webb's family said he may have pushed himself too hard for the race.

But that's his nature," said his daughter Kimberleigh Gavin in an interview with NBC 7. "He wouldn't have stopped. Nothing could have stopped him from doing this race. This is what he wanted to do."

John Stawicki, 81, said he saw Webb yesterday before the duathlon portion of the race. The pair used to race together in San Diego. The duathlon includes running for one mile and biking nine miles.

Webb, right, won first place in his division before he collapsed from a heart attack, said his wife Dixie of nearly 30 years.

"Everybody was cheering him at the end and it was like the finish line of his life," Gavin said.

Webb was extremely fit and exercised every day, biking and going to the gym, friends and family said.

"He always seemed healthy," Stawicki said. "He looked like he was 15-20 years younger than his regular age. He took care of himself."

He had turned 80 only six days beforehand and celebrated by hiking with his family at Yosemite National Park.

A memorial will be held for Webb at the Latter-Day Saints Chapel in Tierrasanta on 10985 Camino Playa Carmel on September 8. The public is welcome to come, his family said.