Healthy Holmes Tri-Man vs. Nature triathlon celebrates successful first year
The rolling hills of Amish Country offer beautiful scenery, peaceful settings, and for the participants of the Man vs. Nature triathlon, a very rigorous course to travel. “I was excited to participate in the triathlon because it was something different other than running and it was something that was going to challenge my fitness,” said participant Schuyler Jones.
On Saturday, July 21, the hills of Holmes County mapped out the course for the 85 total participants. Beginning at Lake Buckhorn, the athletes started with a rigid, and slightly cold, half mile swim. During the swim each of the six waves were released. Four male waves, and two female waves kicked off the long journey.
Once the swim was finished participants either handed off their timers to a respective teammate or began the bike ride themselves, if not participating in a team. The 12.54 mile ride through the hills and valleys of Holmes County began the real test of strength for the athletes.
The bike route began at SR 83 intersection out of Lake Buckhorn and followed to CR 19 to CR 58 and back to SR 83. Once back on SR 83 the participants rode to Wal-Mart, where they accessed the Holmes County Trail, and rode to the Trail Depot.
Once arriving at the Depot, riders handed off their timers to runners, or simply left their bike and trekked on for the last leg of the triathlon, the 5K run. The run began and ended at the Trail Depot.
Once teams and individuals crossed the finish line their times were collected and the waiting game began to find the individuals who won.
Crossing the finish line in a timely fashion didn’t seem like too big of a hurdle, for Cully Gordon, 17 of Millersburg. Gordon was the first to finish the gruesome triathlon, and eventually was awarded third place with a time of 1 hour 23 minutes and 4 seconds. Gordon is an avid runner on the West Holmes Cross Country team and also runs track for the Knights.
“It was nice to do a triathlon because it wasn’t just running, it was more than what I am used to and I got to push myself. The entire event was a lot of fun and I will definitely be coming back to compete next year,” said Gordon.
Behind Gordon was Mihai Cotlet from Dover with a time of 1 hour 23 minutes 52 seconds, Cotlet was the second to finish the race, and came in a close fourth place overall. First place went to Dustin Kaufman with a time of 1 hour 22 minutes and 1 second, second place was a close finish with a time of 1 hour 23 minutes and 26 seconds going to Jordan Hartzler.
In the female division the race results went as followed, first place went to Kati Vaughn, with a time of 1 hour 33 minutes and 34 seconds, a close second went to Keli Vaughn with a time of 1 hour 33 minutes and 34 seconds. Rochelle Yoder came in a third place finish with a time of 1 hour 35 minutes and 46 seconds.
Team Kinetics was the winner out of five teams at the triathlon. With a time of 1 hour 12 minutes and 13 seconds, the team swept to take first place in their division. On team Kinetics were Jeff Pendlebury, Rachel Croskey, and Rachel Dombeck.
“Each of our members trained on our own and in our own ways. For me it was hard to swim because i had never done it in a group of people before, plus the boats made the water a little choppy so it was something I had to get used to,” said Dombeck.
The race was started for a means of a fundraiser for the Holmes County Health Department. A large group of people from the Healthy Holmes County Coalition got together and brainstormed the route, the plans, and how to make the race feasible for the people in Holmes County.
“We have a lot of groups and even individuals who will come to the health department and ask if we have any grants to supply kids with bikes or healthy options and we hated saying no. So we really wanted to find a way to offer these grants to people,” said Cathy Hay, member of the Healthy Holmes County Coalition.
Numerous volunteers and sponsors made the event possible and helped to raise money for a Healthy Holmes County.
“We had such awesome support from locals and all our volunteers. There will definitely be another triathlon in the future,” said Hay. The Healthy Holmes County Tri-Man vs. Nature triathlon was a USTA sanctioned event.