Just over 200 athletes gathered at Washington Park in Michigan City, IN, Saturday morning for the City by the Lake Triathlon sponsored by Northwest Athletic Club. As the sun slowly rose, a light breeze was blowing as athletes picked up their timing devices and set up their transition stations and prepared for what looked to be a great morning for racing. Proceeds from today's event were benefiting the United Way of La Porte County as well as local running and triathlon programs for youth.
Participants had the option to run either the duathlon (run/bike/run) or the triathlon (swim/bike/run). There was also a relay option where each segment was completed by a different person and they would 'tag' the next team member to continue their part of the race.
The heats were divided by gender and age, and took off every fifteen minutes. Just like any race, it cannot be successful without the help of volunteers, and they were present at each phase of the race guiding athletes where to go, when to mount and dismount the bikes, and then into the final phase of the race.
Race Director Nicki Caylor said, "We are happy with the turnout this morning given the amount of other local activities. The weather is great and the athletes seem excited to have a good race."
The relay team of brothers Anthony Repay and Karl Repay, and Ian O'Boyle (all from Hammond, IN), all agreed that they would consider doing a triathlon as individuals in the future. All three team members are graduates of Bishop Noll High School.
"The swim was hard. I was in a pack and nobody really wanted to take the lead. It was fun," Anthony Repay said.
"The bike was smooth and nicely paved. I lost my bottle, but overall it was fun," Karl Repay said.
"The run portion was well-marked. It seemed like they had volunteers every 20 meters telling you where to go," Ian O'Boyle said.
Michael Stratton, of Ann Arbor, MI, completed the course in seventh place overall (1:19:30.4), a student at the University of Michigan, and is currently interning at Dwyer Instruments, hopes to some day make it to the Ironman in Kona, HI.
"I did cross country, swimming and track in high school and had a knee injury (senior year going into college). I was not able to put in as many miles and was encouraged to try the triathlon. It doesn't bother my knee and I fell in love with the sport," Stratton said.
The overall winner was Matthew Thibodeau with a time of 1:09:47. The female open winner was Amy Munin with a time of 1:27:35. The duathlon female winner was Kimberly Gialdini (1:10:51), and the male winner was Shane McQuillan with a time of (1:12:46). All results can be found at www.michianatiming.com. Congratulations to all participants!