The numbers swelled for the Best in the West Sprint Triathlon Festival this year, as participants swelled by about 25 percent to 867 competitors in the various events held during last weekend at Lewis Creek Park on Foster Lake.
Competitors came from as far away as Florida and Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas, and from throughout the Northwest
“We had a good weekend, all in all,” said Director Blair Bronson of last weekend’s event.
The series, which includes Sprint and Half-Ironman triathlons on Saturday and an Olympic event on Sunday, also included several triathlon association championship events.
Bronson, who founded the event at Lewis Creek Park six years ago, said it has grown at a rate of about 100 new participants each year for the last few years, but this year 250 more turned out, not to mention approximately 400 volunteers who helped make it all happen.
They included at least 20 from Sweet Home.
“We really appreciated the participation from Sweet Home,” he said.
Local campgrounds and hotels sold out and parking was tight at Sunnyside Campground, from which athletes and their gear were shuttled by bus to Lewis Creek, though many just walked or rode their bikes. North River Drive was closed completely along the lake this year, and Bronson said he appreciated local residents’ patience.
“We really appreciate the community’s support,” he said. “It’s developing well and I think it’s great for the area.”
Sprint Triathlon winners in the field of 257 finishers were Devin Volk of Corvallis, first among the men in 58:45.9, and Tami Martin of Portland, the first women’s finisher and 17th overall, in 1:13.05.
Sweet Home finishers were: (97) Ivan Wolthuis, 44, 1:26:34; (123) Miriam Swanson, 52, 1:31:22; (130) Adam Barber, 18, 1:33:06; (139) Scott Swanson, 55, 1:34:11; (140) Alex Stupin, 24, 1:34:23; (143) Stacey Vannice, 32, 1:34:34; (144) Braldy Wolthuis, 15, 1:35:01; (163) Jorel Leyba, 12, 1:38:06;
(184) Cameron Taber, 16, 1:42:47; (186) Mindy Cummings-Brown, 39, 1:42:55; (226) Shannon Pettner, 35, 1:57:48; (246) Eleanor Hewitt, 17, 2:15:28; (247) Diane Leyba, 46, 2:15:40; (463) Britanny May, 29, 1:34:34; and (444) Sierrah Owen, 19, 1:53:20.
Five-time women’s Sprint Triathlon winner Kambria Schumacher of Crawfordsville didn’t compete this year because she was in Cozumel, Mexico, for the International Triathlon Union World finals, which are being held this week.
Steve Chapin of Portland was the top finisher in the field of 152 Half-Ironman finishers, in 4:35:36. Shannon Coates of Beaverton was the top woman, 19th overall, in 5:19:12. Sean Martin, 30, of Sweet Home was 76th overall, in 2:56:14.
Olympic triathlon winners were Nick Dorsett of Bozeman, Mont., first overall out of 195 finishers (in the collegiate and general Olympic fields) in 2:02:10, a new Best in the West record; and Cecelia Noecker of Seattle, Wash., the first woman, in 2:21:06.
Kevin Le of Corvallis competed in both the Half-Ironman and the Olympic events, finishing fourth in the Half-Ironman (4:50:50) and fifth in the College Olympic event (2:11:18).
In some other events, Rebecca Wolthuis of Sweet Home was the 12th finisher in the Half-Ironman swim-bike duathlon, clocking 4:39:33. Ken Bronson of Sweet Home finished the Half-Iron swim and bike portion in 5:49:20.