After a year’s hiatus, officially, at least, the Best in the West Triathlon Series returned to Sweet Home last weekend, and while the numbers weren’t record-breaking, it was a good turnout, Director Blair Bronson said.
“This is the first year we haven’t increased our participation from the year prior,” he said, noting that he wasn’t counting last year, which wasn’t an official event, in that calculation.
But he said things worked out well, considering that heavy rain was forecast and athletes are returning to competition after, for some layoffs of up to two years.
“For as wet as it was, it was a safe day for everybody,” he said Monday. “The driest part of the day for everybody was probably the swim. Now we’re just cleaning up. We’ll be drying stuff out for the next month.”
The event drew competitors from three countries, including Kuwait, and 18 states as far away as Florida.
The sprint triathlon was switched to Sunday morning this year, after being held previously on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, cyclists streamed in both directions on Pleasant Valley and North River roads as the Olympic and Half Ironman triathlons took place, the latter course extending to Larwood Park in Lacomb and back.
Evan Price, 30, of Vancouver, Wash., was the winner of the Half-Iron event – a 1.2-mile swim in Foster Lake, a 56-mile bike ride, followed by a 13.1-mile half-marathon run – out of 65 finishers, in an event-record 4 hours, 10 minutes and 33 seconds.
Bronson noted that the bike course was changed this year, but that the previous record, which had “stood for quite some time,” was actually set on a “slightly different” course with less elevation gain than the one Price rode.
Price had competition coming out of the water, Bronson said, but the chilly temperatures knocked out his closest opponents, leaving him basically riding and running alone.
“It was a solid course record,” Bronson said.
Shannon Coates, 35, of Portland, was the top woman, finishing seventh overall, in 5:17.07.
Local finishers were Ken Bronson of Foster, 65, Blair’s father, who finished 29th overall in 6:51:36 to place first in the 65-69 age group, and Gerrit Schaffer, 46, who competed as a wheelchair athlete, finishing in 7:57.31, 49th overall. Lake Larsen, 25, of Albany was 48th overall, in 7:55.38.
The Olympic Triathlon – a 1,500-meter (just under a mile) swim, 40-kilometer (roughly 25 miles) bike ride and a 10K run (6.2 miles) had 152 finishers.
Ben Grable, 42, of Central Point, won the Olympic Triathlon in 2:17:22, three minutes ahead of Ben Kosa, 19, of Olympia, Wash., (2:20:37).
Third was the first-place female finisher, Batya Beard, 23, of Portland, who clocked 2:23:17.
Local finishers were: Ivan Wolthuis, 49, of Sweet Home, 87th overall in 3:08.18; Cam Eberhart, 33, of Brownsville, 17th in 2:32:59; Levi Fortney, 42, of Albany, 85th in 3:06:42; and Kase Basting, 16, of Lebanon, 124th in 3:28:02.
Sunday’s Sprint Triathlon – a 500-meter swim (just over a quarter of a mile), 12-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run – had 179 finishers.
David Gettle, 39, of Weiser, Idaho, finished first in 1:03.14, followed by 15-year-old Kyle Miller, of Eugene, in 1:06.08.
It was Gettle’s first overall win after placing near the top “multiple times,” Bronson said.
Beard, the third-place finisher in the previous day’s Olympic Triathlon, was third in the sprint as well and the first woman overall, clocking 1:08.50.
Her double was “pretty stellar,” Bronson said of Beard, who is fresh off winding up her career in cross-country and track at Oregon State University. “Batya was just running the boys down all day long. She’s doing just fine in triathlon.”
Zane Moore, another 15-year-old, of Portland, was fourth, in 1:09.22.
Monica Emerick, 48, of Portland, was the second woman, in 1:12:12, with 15-year-old Daniella Dispenza, of Bend placing third for the women, and ninth overall, in 1:12.51.
Local finishers were: Calvin Vetter, 26, Lebanon, 14th overall in 1:15:53; Joe Van Veldhuizen, 51, of Albany, 45th in 1:26:56; Samantha Sapaugh, 29, of Albany, 94th in 1:37.25; Abby Stebbins, 28, of Brownsville, 128th in 1:46.54; Joshua Moore, 20, of Lebanon, 145th in 1:55.47; Lacey Nordstrand, 32, of Lebanon, 147th in 1:58:51; Ashley Swank, 34, of Albany, 148th in 1:58:59; Alisha Cox, 34, of Lebanon, 163rd in 2:06:03; Sarah Skelton, 32, of Halsey, 170th in 2:15.42; Trinity Lepinski, 33, of Lebanon, 171st in 2:15.46; and Sweet Home’s only competitor in the sprint event, Elizabeth Gillam, 30, who finished 172nd in 2:15:47.
Van Veldhuizen also competed in the half marathon on Sunday, running 2:29:49.
Lorena Childress, 41, of Lebanon, also finished the half marathon, walking it in 4:16:38.
Carolyn McDermed, 62, of Sweet Home, finished the 10K in 1:20.03 as a race walker, followed by her sister Marilyn Kragness in 1:31:19.
Finishing the Super Sprint Triathlon on Sunday – a 250-meter swim, 4.8-mile bike ride and 1.5-mile run – were locals Alivia Griffiths, 15, of Lebanon, fifth in 1:07:44, followed by Aliya Griffiths, 17, who was sixth in 1:07:45.