Race Coverage

Fast Racing & Amazing Camaraderie...

Friday, 28 June 2024 00:10

By Christel Kippenhan

Fast Racing and Lots of Fun in Omaha.
June 5 – 9, 2024 – USAT National Multisport Championships Festival, Omaha, NE
Super Sprint Triathlon Time Trial, Draft-legal Sprint Triathlon & Mixed Team Triathlon Relay

CliffsNotes
* Raced three National Championship races around Lake Glenn Cunningham in Omaha, NE within four days : Super Sprint Triathlon Time Trial, Draft-legal Sprint Triathlon & Mixed Team Triathlon Relay.
* Finished 2nd in my age group for both my individual races: Super Sprint Triathlon Time Trial & Draft-legal Sprint Triathlon.
Finished 3rd in the Grandmaster category (women 55+) for the Draft-legal Sprint Triathlon, just behind two amazing triathletes: Kelly Dippold and Steph Popelar....

* The first athlete on our Mixed Team Triathlon Relay had a mishap on the bike that cost him around 12 minutes to the leading teams. But we fought our way back from 10th out of 10 teams in our age group to 5th out of 10 teams!
*I had a great time reconnecting with old triathlon friends and making new friends. The camaraderie was amazing.
* Overall, fast racing and lots of fun at a very well organized event.

First Day – Tuesday – Travel

On June 3, my friends, Lisa and Craig Peterson, and I drove the roughly six hours from Minneapolis to Omaha. We had three bikes and all of our luggage, so we used two cars. Because I was racing two draft-legal races (DL Sprint Tri and Mixed Team Tri Relay) and one non-draft race (Time Trial Super Sprint Tri), I had decided to bring my road and my tri bike. Craig, racing the same three races, on the other hand, had opted to only bring his road bike. In hindsight I think that bringing my tri bike for the very short Super Sprint was the right decision, at least for me.

We stayed in a very nice AirBnB with view of the Missouri River, right at the Missouri River Bike Trail, and about 10 minutes drive from the race venue. With the on-site parking pass for the race venue, the setup was almost perfect. After arriving at our AirBnB, Craig and I took a short, 1.5-mile run with a few 30/30 accelerations along the river to stretch our legs before heading out for dinner and groceries.   READ MORE