1 mile skied, 1250 meters swam, 48 miles biked and 165.9 miles run in 2013 races
Race: Redneck Aquathon
Place: Tygh Valley, OR
Miles from home: 90 miles
Weather: 50-60s; bright sunshine
I now know how to pronounce a whole slew of places in Oregon which would not evident at first glance. That is one of the wonderful things about travel.
This weekend, while still not boarding a plane for what seems like a wonderful eternity, I got to experience the much drier, much higher side of Oregon (elevation - I am sure marijuana-wise it is about the same), just a few short hours of driving away.
This was going to be a small race but I wasn’t sure how small. The aquathon was a newly added event to two other triathlons which already existed. One, the traditional sprint triathlon and the other, a very interesting two-looper. Basically, in this “Pumice Man” tri you swam, biked, ran, then swam, biked, ran again. Very interesting. I would definitely give this some thought for the future.
But my race was the aquathon. Given my tough 50k the week prior, I was more than pleased to be partaking in what would be the shortest of the events for the day. A 750 meter swim was followed by a 5k and I could call it a day.
With a 9:30 a.m. start time and no bike to have to worry about getting properly racked, this would be about as close to a running event in terms of simplicity as one could get. I picked up my number and saw I was given bib number 2. I then noticed there were only 4 competitors. To me, this meant one of two things: they were all ringers or they were all just jumping into the race like I was. I ended up being somewhere in the middle in my thinking.
Because there were so few competitors I am going to give you their stories. First was Max Mann. (If there is a cooler name out there, I don’t know what it is.) Max was a 14-year-old fish. He darn near looked me directly in the eye which means he is probably going to be about seven feet talk when he stops growing. His grandfather was one of the official photographers for the race and also provided all the hand-carved medals for participants. His grandmother was there to hand out the packets and do sundry other details. To say that I found this beyond cool would be an understatement. Involvement by a family in and of itself is quite neat. But to have it trickle up through generations is even more special.
Before the event started I had the chance to talk with Max for a bit and he seemed like such a wonderful kid. I also learned that he would be swimming the swim leg in nothing but a speedo. Apparently they had purchased him a wetsuit but his slender frame made it too baggy. In hindsight, the water was cold but I think I could have gone with just a swimsuit as well. After the initial shock, that is. Max would end up swimming an excellent leg, throwing in different strokes (I swear) in the middle of the reservoir. I don’t think he was showing off; rather just getting a hard workout in.
Next was Eric Helser. Eric introduced himself prior to the race. It was at least his third year doing this race and he had won both versions of the triathlon in previous years. I figured he would be a tough one to compete with no matter how much he downplayed his swimming ability. Eric told me a great deal about the campgrounds and the areas and I really got excited about the idea of ding the Pumice Man potentially someday. I had a feeling he had some quick wheels on the run and hoped I could get a minute or so on him during the swim to make for the fact that I had zero oomph in my legs.
Finally there was Marie Young. The only female competitor in the race, Marie was a total trooper. I didn’t fully catch her story but I did hear she had a lot of biking equipment stolen so more or less decided last minute to just do this aquathon. She seemed to have zero apprehension telling us she would be pulling up the rear of the race to which I had zero problem telling her that if she finished she would be the top female.
That’s what this race was about: showing up. I have long said that you can never apologize for who comes to race. You can only compete against those who are there. I think this thought really buoyed Marie a bit.
