Over a challenging and beautiful course, some of the area’s finest athletes met on Saturday Sept. 7 to participate in the first XTERRA Marquette Triathlon. Kicking off at the Tourist Basin Park, the race featured friendly athletic competition for various levels of triathlon experience and age ranges.
Race coordinator and NMU graduate Allison Kadler directed the triathlon and said the race is a first for Marquette, and was excited to start getting the community involved as well as Northern students.
“This is the first time for this event, and this is my second race coordinating job,” Kadler said. “Right now our registration is over 117 participants, 20 of whom are Northern students. Our youngest racer is about to turn 12. I think besides that, most racers are in their late 20s to early 50s, a lot of locals who are very involved in community events. We’ve gotten a lot of interest there.”
Over the next year, Kadler expects the XTERRA Marquette Triathlon to get bigger with participants and notoriety. Kadler encourages students to participate as both volunteers and as triathletes.
“I would say go for it,” Kadler said. “Don’t be afraid and try something new. It will blow your mind.”
According to Kadler and the XTERRA website, the race was separated into two different distances. The Epic was a 30-mile mountain bike, a one mile swim, and a 10-mile trail run, and this part of the race could be done as a relay team and is encouraged for Northern students to participate in future years. Individual triathletes were also encouraged to take part in The Sport distance, a 250-yard swim, 10-mile mountain bike and a 5-km trail run.
Over the course of the day athletes from all around Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and even Virginia gathered to test their skill, and endurance.
According to My Race Results, The Epic female division was won by Alexandra Akemann of Northville, Mich. with a finishing time of 4:27:49.7. The men’s Epic Division was won by Chris Sachs of Minneapolis, Minn. with a finishing time of 3:51:18.6.
The Sport Distance division was won by two Marquette residents. The female division was won by Jennifer Neuschwander with an end time of 1:23:44.3. In the male division, Tyler Jenema came away with the best time of 1:07:29.3.
Participant John Main, a senior media production and new technology major, said proper preparation for the triathlon was essential.
“The most difficult part of the race was everything after the swim,” Main said. “I did not train enough for the swim and ended up exhausted for the bike and run. If anyone is thinking of doing a triathlon in the future, I would tell them to train a lot for the swim and to practice their transitions before the race.”
Throughout the course of the year, triathletes from all over the country will compete in several different regions in XTERRA’s American Tour. National’s this year take place in Utah with the World Championship taking place in Hawaii.
For more information on how participants placed as well as information about possible volunteer and participation opportunities in the next XTERRA Marquette Triathlon, visit their website at www.xterramarquette.com/
