Sun, Sweat Soak Triathlon Conditions Ideal For 14th Year Of Swim-Bike-Run Competition, Which Draws 381 Single Entrants And 100 Teams
The “Rocky” theme pumped. The crowd screamed. Muscles stretched, so did hopes.
The Lee kids only yawned.
“We had to get up early,” Lindsay Lee sighed, waiting for her parents to finish the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon on Sunday. The 14-year-old was listening to headphones. Her sister Cortney, 11, was conked out on a blanket next to a neglected Uno game.
The travel-weary girls from Seattle were about the only folks who weren’t either cheering hoarse or running limp. The 14th-annual triathlon drummed up 381 single entrants and 100 teams. And the warm water, bright sun and sweet scenery left everybody smiling through the pain of the 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10-kilometer run.
Even the guy with wheels that would barely roll. “A couple guys passed me. Then I got a flat,” Cameron Luff told those crowding around after his cycling stage was up. “It was fun, though.”
The 17-year-old from Hailey, Idaho, couldn’t fix the tire. “I lost my pump, too,” Luff puffed. “I was going 40 mph when it fell off, and I wasn’t going to go back and get it.”
So when the tire went, he kept riding the remaining mile or so. He just took the corners real slow, “so the tire didn’t come off the rim.”
Then there was that 71-year-old from Sun Valley. He seemed way too happy. Charley French finished, well ahead of a lot of young, hard-body types, without a bead of sweat on him. Full of breath, he just chatted and grinned.
French, it turns out, is a triathlon addict. He’s done about 130 races, all over the country. He even set an Ironman age-group record one year. And in ‘96, he was his age group’s triathlon world champ.
He started doing triathlons about 15 years ago. In his younger years, he was too busy motorcycle racing and skiing. “I’ve always been a sports fanatic,” he said.
The soft-spoken man said it’s really no big deal. “Living in Sun Valley, everyone’s some kind of jock. Everyone asks, ‘What did you do today?’ They don’t ask what book you’re reading or what play you saw.”
Out of all those races, the Coeur d’Alene competition is his favorite. French chalked it up to the scenery and people.
This year’s turnout was consistent with the number in years past, said race chairwoman Laura Yumthun. “We’re real pleased with everything,” she said.
So were the spectators. The sun shone down on a mob of hollerers who seemed to yell only nice things. Even to those racing against their friends.
But when Lori Sabado and Stewart Lee finished, they got the warmest reception of all - the relief of their two waiting daughters.
After all, super-sporty parents are super cool, right?
Sabado laughed. “They could care less,” she said.
Kids.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo