Monkey Adventures Race Team

Today, the Monkey Adventures Race Team participated in the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Int'l Triathlon & Sports Festival at Antrim Metro Park. Our event was the Sprint Triathlon (0.75K Swim, 25K Bike, 5K Run). We've been training super hard for this event. Well, Susan has been training hard, I've been honing my skills as Susan's Soigneur (pronounced “swa-neur") and working at becoming an amateur mechanic. Susan Swims, Bikes and Runs --I Load, Drive and Cheer. :-)

The team was up at 4:45 AM prepping supplies and equipment and getting our official race vehicle loaded up. (If Nissan and Yakima had provided the car and bike rack for free, then this is where we'd be thanking them for their sponsorship.) By 5:10 AM, we were loaded and on the road to Antrim. Now, because most normal people are home, in bed, and asleep at this hour, we made great time and arrived at 5:30 (90 minutes before race time).

The transition area was already hopping with racers getting everything ready to go. After our last race, we decided to use a milk crate to carry Susan's transition supplies. This time though, one of the race officials was being pretty strict about not taking too much space in the transition area, so Susan had me take it away. Next time, it looks like she'll just go with a backpack. Susan finished her setup in the transition area (athlete's only in the transition area), and we headed down to the starting area at the lake.

The lake course had 3 orange buoys set up in a triangle pattern. For the sprint triathletes, it was once around the course keeping the buoys on their left, then back to shore. This picture shows the finish area.


For this event, there were three events International and Sprint Triathlons, and a Sprint Duathlon. In total, there were a little over 700 racers!! For the swim portion, they lined everyone up by race number and put them in the water one at a time. It was really amazing how quickly they were able to get almost 700 racers in the water! Once in the water, it was fun to watch them all round the bouys and race for the shore!

Racers lined up for the swim...


Susan did an outstanding job on the swim, didn't get attacked by any 'pond creatures', and came up out of the water like a pro...



Then, she was off to the transition area [which included an uphill barefoot run :( ]. By the time I made it to the transition area, she was already headed out to the bike course...


The bike course was three laps (part of which was on a closed lane on St Rt 315 - that would be 'The Three One Five' for you readers in California). Susan did a really good job on this too, although she did throw her riding gloves at me as she rode by...(btw, this began a new trend where she would throw stuff at me as she rode or ran past - we'll be chatting about that in our next team meeting!).

Lap 1:


Lap 2:


Finally, it was back to the transition for the change to running gear and then out for the 5k run (I think this is Susan's strongest event - makes her a good finisher).

Changing gear....


Heading out to the running course (waving, saying how she couldn't do it without me, etc., etc. - it was all very embarassing)...


Finally, headed down the home stretch. Why the smile? It might be because it was over, and it might be that Julie (MOH) had joined us and just let out a whistle that can be heard 3 counties away!


Susan finished in 1 hour 42 minutes!! More importantly, she really had fun and enjoyed the experience! Speaking for her support team, we loved the big smiles she had when the race was finished. That was definitely worth getting up at at 4:45 in the morning!

We really liked this picture too. It shows how many bikes are in the transition area when it is full and the racers are either swimming or running. Remember, there are about 7 rows just like this one!