Great Day for a swim, bike and run

Jennifer Linn - Staff Writer of Ludington Daily News

Monday, August 25, 2008

Beautiful weather and calm waters helped make the Ludington Lighthouse Triathlon a success, organizers say.

Just fewer than 400 athletes, about 30 more than last year, took to area waters and roadways to swim, bike and run their way through the Ludington Lighthouse Triathlon. About 20 of those athletes were local, said Kenny Krell, race director for 3Disciplines racing.

“It went well,” Krell said. “We had beautiful weather once again for the race, especially the swim, nice flat, calm waters and the temperatures were nice and cool, so not too hot.”

The triathlon had two race lengths, a sprint triathlon, which consisted of a 500 meter swim, 20k bike ride and 5k run, and the long course triathlon, a 1000m swim, 40k bike ride, and 10k run.

Phil Jones, 39, of Holland, won the sprint race for the men in a time of 1:02.17. Robbi Kupfer, a 26-year-old Ann Arbor woman won for the women in a time of 1:12.34.

Thomas Trout, 39, won the long course event in a time of 1:55.02 for the men. Marie Dershem, 37, won the women’s event in a time of 2:05.41.

Scott Soltys and Brian Cunningham, both of Grand Rapids, participated in the long course triathlon. Both said they have been competing in triathlons for about three years, and both men recently completed the Ironman — a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run — in Lake Placid, NY.

“It’s a great course, the volunteers are awesome out there, they do a good job,” Cunningham said.

“It was my first day on this particular course, I liked it quite well,” Soltys said. “It suited me, my style, I like it when it’s hot, it pushed me to get out there and really push myself.”

Both men said today was an easy day for them after competing in the Ironman six weeks ago.

“We have to push a lot harder a lot faster,” Soltys said. “In the Ironman you go a little easier all day long.”

Cunningham finished 13 out of 60 men and Soltys finished 35.

On the other end of the spectrum were Jodi Smith and Emily Mejeur of Kalamazoo, who competed in the sprint triathlon. Ludington was Smith’s first triathlon and Mejeur’s third.

Smith said the chain fell off her bike about three miles into the course and she didn’t know how to fix it so she turned around and started walking back to the staging area.

“I got a little over a mile back and I saw a man walking this way and tried to fix it for me and he actually got it fixed,” she said. “So then I started from there and went back and did the rest of the bike, so it took me a lot longer than I thought, but I finished!”

Mejeur said she decided to do a triathlon last year.

“This year I just went crazy and signed up for three,” she said.

Mejeur said she used to think she couldn’t consider herself an athlete, but now people tell her differently.

My Team Triumphs

Swimming, biking and running one event sounds like a lot to most people, but for Michael McCumber and Matt Smith, completing Sunday’s Ludington Lighthouse Triathlon was new and exciting, especially because both of them are motor challenged.

Two teams from My Team Triumphs participated in this year’s Ludington Lighthouse Triathlon.

McCumber and Smith were captains of their team and completed the course with assistance from what the team calls angels.

“My Team Triumph is a support ride-along program for motor challenged kids, adults and veterans,” said Barry Heydenberk, marketing director for My Team Triumph, which was created about six months ago.

This is the group’s second event, and there will be two more this summer.

“Angels will be harnessed to a boat, we’ll put a captain in the boat, and then we’ll swim the 500m or 1000m, then we’ll transition the captain to a bike carrier, and bike them,” Heydenberk said. “Then we’ll transition Michael into a run carrier and they run a 5k with them.”

Heydenberk said the captains and angels who support them encourage each other to complete the course.

“It’s a way that we can give back and get them to be the center of the community,” he said.

Sunday’s triathlon was the first event for McCumber, and second for Smith. Both said they had fun and would do it again.

McCumber’s mother, Irene, said they just found out about the group and decided to participate in the race about a week ago.

When asked what his favorite part of the race, Michael McCumber said it was the bikes because of how fast they go.

Smith said his favorite part was the run because he can look around see lots of new scenery. He said he got wet when in the boat this time.

“I’m going to do Reeds Lake,” Smith said. The 11-year-old is excited for the next race, in East Grand Rapids, and said his sisters help him out a lot. “I am a triplet,” he said.

As far as the rest of the summer, My Team Triumph will have groups at a races at Reeds Lake and in Grand Rapids, for a total of four this year. Next year the group hopes to participate in 10 to 14 races with about four captains at each race.

Article courtesy Ludington Daily News