Muddy smiles christen triathlon
HAMMERMAN: Swim in Little Campbell Lake, biking and running on
park's steep hills are a highlight.
By Josh Niva
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: July 22, 2001)
A steady rain shower. A half-mile swim through the
60-something-degree waters of Little Campbell Lake. A treacherous
10.9-mile mountain bike ride over Kincaid Park's highest hills and
toughest trails. A 3.1-mile run over a similarly steep and muddy
trail.
Triathletes, consider yourselves hammered.
Mackie Derrick and Lisa Keller were crowned champions in the
inaugural Kincaid Hammerman Triathlon on Saturday with overwhelming
wins in the field of 59 muddy racers. The event was billed as
Alaska's first mountain-bike triathlon and mixed a challenging course
with an outdoor swim and tough, slippery trails in the midst of
Kincaid Park's wilderness setting
Derrick used a strong ride in the mountain bike portion of the
race to overtake, and eventually put away, second-place finisher
Glenn Schultes. Derrick finished the event in one hour, 23 minutes
and 37 seconds, with Schultes coming in at 1:25:32 and Todd Borke
third at 1:26:50.
Keller was strong from start to finish, as her time of 1:35:51
was more than six minutes faster than second-place finisher Tasha
Bergt (1:42:15).
Derrick added a fourth athletic element to his race when he
finished the day with a tight, high-energy cannonball dive into
Little Campbell Lake following his win.
"I'm just stoked," Derrick said. "This is great."
Derrick was five seconds behind Schultes leaving the staging area
following the swim. Derrick, a 19-year-old mountain biking
enthusiast, suddenly found himself in position to put his prerace
plan into action.
"My goal was to get as much time on Glenn during the bike as
possible," Derrick said, noting Schultes' reputation as a strong
runner.
The plan worked, as Derrick dropped his bike and left the staging
area with a cushion of two minutes and eight seconds on
Schultes.
"He just hammered me on the bikes," Schulte, 41, said. "I was
like Whoa, look at that kid go.' "
Borke added: "(Derrick) races mountain bikes with me, and he's
just a phenomenal mountain biker."
But that didn't ease Derrick's concerns as he hit the hilly trail
with his running shoes.
"I got off the bike and I thought I could hear him," Derrick said
of Schultes. "I was looking over my shoulder the whole time."
Luckily for Derrick, Schultes was out of sight for most of the
run. Besides, Schultes had worries of his own as he was continually
on the look out for Borke.
"I was really running scared," Schultes said.
But his worry, like Derrick's, was founded in fear and not
reality.
"I could see him on top of the long hills," Borke said of
Schultes, "but I just couldn't reel him in."
With a firm lead and no women competitors in sight midway through
the bike leg, Keller decided she would just have to settle with
passing men.
"I reeled in a lot of guys out of the (swimming-bike)
transition," Keller said. "I wanted to win."
Keller, 37, was the third woman out of the water but returned
first from the bike leg with a four-minute lead over Bergt.
"I hoped to catch her the whole way, but I couldn't find her,"
Bergt said.
While Derrick and Keller's finishes were impressive, there was
nothing pretty about the Hammerman, except maybe the shiny,
high-dollar mountain bikes, clean swimming suits and dry running
shoes the athletes brought to the race. When the event was completed,
however, racers and equipment alike were speckled with mud and
dripping a mixture of sweat, rain and dirt.
So why was everyone smiling?
"It was awesome ... so much fun," Derrick said of the mixture of
wet, wild and challenging elements.
"This is an Alaskan race," Bergt added. "It's something
different, and I know it's going to take off."
And with racers raving about the freshness of the idea and the
challenge of the course following Saturday's event, the line for
entry into next year's event should be an even longer one.
"They're probably going to have to put a cap on this," Keller
said of a potential entry limit. "This is going to end up being a big
thing."
A big thing with big hills.
"I biked it the other day and joked that they must have done a
dot-to-dot to all the biggest hills at Kincaid Park," Bergt
said.
"There were some pretty nasty downhills out there," Keller said.
"A couple times I was thinking I don't want to leave my children
motherless.' "
Derrick added: "If you like hills, this is it."
Reporter Josh Niva can be reached at jniva@adn.com.
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Kincaid Hammerman Triathlon
Overall times from Kincaid Park
Half-mile swim, 10.9-mile bike, 3.1-mile run
Women -- 1) Lisa Keller 1:35:51; 2) Tasha Bergt 1:42:15; 3)
Kristina Eaton 1:47:45; 4) Amy Owens 1:48:15; 5) Sissy Adams 1:50:15;
6) Correen Schnebel 1:55:13; 7) Linda Infante-Lyons 1:56:52; 8) Pam
Scott 1:58:54; 9) Caeli Rice 2:01:44; 10) Amber Goldberg 2:03:11; 11)
Kaiya Kaltenborn 2:03:28; 12) Ali Everson 2:07:06; 13) Elizabeth
Winfield 2:14:56; 14) Kristina Dance 2:37:09; 15) Tracie Eddington
2:37:09; 16) Theo Hunter 2:38:00; 17) India Hunter 3:07:25; 18) Brett
Brown 3:08:51; 19) Michelle Yep 3:11:31.
Men -- 1) Mackie Derrick 1:23:37; 2) Glenn Schultes 1:25:32; 3)
Todd Borke 1:26:50; 4) Steve Humpal 1:29:16; 5) Jeff Young 1:35:14;
6) David Ford 1:35:21; 7) Tom Peichel 1:37:09; 8) Andy Kirk 1:37:17;
9) Greg Zwack 1:37:29; 10) Marty Gibson 1:39:52; 11) Thomas Cole
1:43:51; 12) Davin Holen 1:44:20; 13) Joe Anolers 1:47:08; 14) Joe
Conroy 1:48:00; 15) Paul VanderWeide 1:48:05; 16) Bill Boulch
1:51:03; 17) Philip Wilson 1:51:52; 18) Tony Huelin 1:52:51; 19) Jeff
Henson 1:55:19; 20) Tom Dietrich 1:58:46; 21) James Holen 2:10:38;
22) Ken Lee 2:11:38; 23) Tony Perez 2:12:15; 24) G. Todd Giles
2:17:11; 25) Randy Wild 2:17:56; 26) David Hinshaw 2:24:14; 27)
Robert Warner 2:44:38; 28) Sam Warner 2:44:38; 29) Tom Mader 3:07:24;
30) Dave Chamberlain 3:08:51.
Teams -- 1) Mary Lou O'Halloran, Christina Lee, Carriam Pratt
1:54:08; 2) Sheryl Flemming (swim), Eugene Hampton (bike, run)
2:07:18; 3) Laarni Competente, Jennifer Bundy-Cobb, Bernedett Gilik
2:08:02.