Race Coverage

Glad to be Done...

Thursday, 24 March 2016 01:10

By Mitchell Hansen (sctimes.com)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Laura Knoblach made history last Friday.

The 21-year-old St. Cloud native became the youngest woman ever to finish a double triathlon, competing in Double ANVIL Ultra Triathlon at Lake Louisa State Park.

The event consists of swimming 4.8 miles, biking 224 miles and running two consecutive marathons for a total of 52.4 miles. Knoblach needed to complete it in under 36 hours.

She finished with a time of 34 hours, 20 minutes and 38 seconds.

"It was long, but went remarkably well," said Knoblach, who is a 2013 graduate of St. Cloud Christian School. "With it being a long race, I was nervous about sleep deprivation, but it wasn't a problem at all....

"When I finished, I was kind of glad to be done. They offered free 30-minute massages after the race, and really that's all I could think about or wanted while running," she said while laughing. "When I reached 46 miles running, I literally couldn't run anymore; I couldn't make the motion of running. I ended up walking some, but I still had plenty of time to finish and I was glad to be done in the end."   READ