Race Coverage

"It Felt Just Like a Race"...

Tuesday, 07 July 2020 23:10

By Jason Larson

What we did was organize a small training triathlon since all of the races through the end of July are canceled. It is understandable why they had to cancel, nevertheless many of us are bummed we cannot do some of the races we love so much. we arranged a small Sprint triathlon at square lake Park in Stillwater. It is very similar to the square lake Sprint triathlon, and in fact used the same bike course....

A  total of 17 racers - including six volunteers/fans and one kayaker monitoring the swim course began the race at 8:00 a.m. on June 27th. A 600-yd swim began the race around buoys already in the water. Two people started approximately every 0:30 to maintain distance. After the swim, the racers would run up the ramp in the parking lot to the grassy overflow parking area. Everyone's "transition" was next to their car, so it was easy to maintain spacing. All of the other typical park visitors parked in the standard lot so it was only the triathletes in the grassy area. Everyone's bike and run gear were all set out, so it was just like a typical race. The bike took us around the square lake triathlon sprint course, and at 8:00 a.m. there was little to no traffic there. After returning on our bikes, there was a 5K out and back run, with the finish right next to the transition area and our cars. Despite being hot, it was excellent to be out racing again! We had veterans all the way to people doing their first triathlon ever, and it felt just like a race. We were provided bibs, but it was all self timed for results. We do not have official results, although we can probably guess at the approximate finishes. More than official results, what this triathlon was about was being out racing again and some of the back and forth battles between people during the various disciplines.

I should also add that we are repeating the event on August 8th! I believe green like tri is scheduled for August 9th and technically still on for now. However I would expect similar numbers, or maybe even a few more on the 8th. It will be in the same location and on the same course!