Back in action

BIG LAKE — Jens is back.

Anchorage’s Jens Beck returned from a two-year triathlon hiatus with a dominant performance Sunday in the sixth annual Big Lake Triathlon, beating Andy Duenow by more than two and a half minutes to claim his fourth career Big Lake title.

The return of Beck, a two-time Ironman World Triathlon Championships competitor and one of the state’s top endurance athletes, was greeted with mock sarcasm by Duenow at the finish line.

“Yeah, welcome back,” Duenow said.

Duenow’s comments were all in fun, in keeping with the low-key theme of the triathlon, which has gained a reputation as one of the most laid-back and competitive events on the Alaska circuit.

“It was fun. This is a really good course,” Beck said after posting a winning time of 58 minutes, 30.94 seconds over the course, which included a 900-meter swim in Big Lake, a 12.4-mile bike ride through Houston and Big Lake and a 3.1-mile run to a finish line set up in the East Lake Mall parking lot in downtown Big Lake.

Anchorage’s Lori Deschamps won her third Big Lake title, coming from behind to edge last year’s winner Shannon Donley by 13 seconds with a time of 1:02:57.11.

Beck had been taking a break from the sport to train for mountain running races, but decided to hit this year’s event in Big Lake event for a couple reasons. First, the German native said he’s a fan of cool weather, and conditions Saturday were cool and cloudy.

“This was idea,” Beck said.

The other reason Beck decided to make the trip out the Valley, he said, was to do a bit of sightseeing. Beck’s parents were visiting him from Germany, and the Beck family was planning to head to Hatcher Pass for a hike following Beck’s race.

“This is a good day,” Beck said. “Now my parents and I will go to Hatcher Pass and everybody’s happy.”

Beck, a former collegiate swimmer at UAA, was actually the second swimmer out of the water, and thought he was in for a long day of playing catch-up. But when he got to the transition area, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the swimmer —David Roosa — wasn’t hopping on a bicycle.

“I didn’t know it was a relay team,” he said.

Roosa teamed up with Seth Downs (bike) and Paul Kendall (run) to form “Team Cobra Kai,” which actually reached the finish line first in 56:24.28 to take first place in the relay division. Houston’s own Team Brew Crew of Jon Stinson, Brendan Weimer and Dylan Styers was the second relay team across the finish line.

Once Beck realized he was the first individual to reach the bicycles, he said he figured his chances of winning the race were strong. “I knew I probably had the strongest run, so I knew when I got to the transition first that barring cramping up or anything I had a good chance,” he said.

Duenow said he would have had a better chance of catching Beck if the weather had been more seasonable.

“If it more like 75 or 80 (degrees) I’d have been in a lot better shape,” he said.

Duenow recently completed a triathlon in Arizona where the temperature reached 105 degrees.

“I like the heat so much better,” he said.

But after losing out to Beck’s cool running, biking and swimming, the Anchorage athlete said he wasn’t too disappointed with second place.

“You can’t complain,” he said.

Jason Potsander was the third men’s finisher, while last year’s winner Jason Lamoreaux was fourth.

While Beck was cruising out in front, Deschamps had to work a bit harder for her win. Donley led out of the water and was the first off the bike, but got caught less than a mile from the finish line.

“I think I swam and biked well, but I struggled in the run,” Donley said. “She passed me right at the finish.”

Donley had nothing but praise for the triathlon, which she said is among her favorites.

“They do a great job of putting it on,” she said of the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the race. “It’s so low key and low stress, it’s totally laid back.”

Donley said the event wouldn’t be the same without featuring some of the state’s best triathletes.

“It makes you work hard,” she said. “I like it.”

Fifty-four individuals finished this year’s race, in addition to three, three-person relay teams. While the race included some top-notch racers, there were also plenty of athletes just out for some exercise.

Soldotna’s Tony Oliver said he traveled north with a group of four other triathletes from the Twin Cities to compete in the race. Oliver, 51, said he got into the sport after undergoing a lifestyle change a few years back.

“I smoked for 32 years,” he said after finishing the race in a bright pink tu-tu.

Oilver said his unusual garb was just his way of expressing his love of maintaining a healthy life.

“It’s all about having fun, getting outside and enjoying life,” he said.

Big Lake Triathlon

Sunday

1. Team Cobra Kai (David Roosa, swim; Seth Downs, bike; Paul Kendall, run), 56 minutes, 24.28 seconds; 2. Jens Beck, 58:30.94; 3. Andy Duenow, 1:01:18.19; 4. Jason Potsander, 1:02:03.61; 5. Lori Deschamps, 1:02:44.28; 6. Shannon Donley, 1:02:57.11; 7. Jason Lamoreaux, 1:03:01.89; 8. Rob Conn, 1:04:47.97; 9. Todd Borke, 1:05:35.70; 10. William Fryer, 1:09:53.24; 11. Kristi Way Thomas, 1:10:31.52; 12. Joleen Smith, 1:12:49.72; 13. Bob Ulbrich, 1:12:52.78; 14. Michael Masuda, 1:12:57.99; 15. Aaron Morrison, 1:13:08.92; 16. Kelly VanHoek, 1:15:27.63; 17. Joe Klein, 1:18:43.67; 18. Karl Swanson, 1:19:08.13; 19. Elizabeth Walker, 1:19:49.31; 20. Angie Brennan, 1:20:00.00; 21. Carleen Ulbrich, 1:20:02.20; 22. Lisa Christensen, 1:20:11.22; 23. Rachel McCartan, 1:20:22.49; 24. Jeff Campbell, 1:20:47.77; 25. Cyndie Fox, 1:21:18.80; 26. Lukas Stutzer, 1:21:51.58; 27. Cheryl Grove, 1:22:24.75; 28. Dana Seagars, 1:22:39.89; 29. Amy Klein, 1:23:16.92; 30. Margaret Griffin, 1:23:53.84; 31. Joe Moser, 1:23:25.27; 32. John Adamson, 1:24:53.80; 33. Fred Stutzer, 1:25:36.64; 34. Jack Maryott, 1:26:23.34; 35. Team Brew Crew (Jonathan Stinson, swim; Brendan Weimer, bike; Dylan Styers, run), 1:26:40.22; 36. Tracy Morrison, 1:26:43.45; 37. Mary Janis, 1:27:14.28; 38. Ryan Walch, 1:27:15.92; 39. Helen Aye, 1:27:25.00; 40. Michael Dietz, 1:28:58.39; 41. Team David Purcell (David Purcell, swim; Michael Carver, bike; Robert Carver, run), 1:29:30.58; 42. Michelle Turinsky, 1:29:47.30; 43. Corbin Jahn, 1:29:52.30; 44. Carla Goldberg, 1:30:39.05; 45. Leann Montgomery, 1:30:45.22; 46. Michelle Dietz, 1:33:03.11; 47. Buffie Cubit, 1:33:26.31; 48. Brittany Goodnight, 1:34:14.28; 49. Janeele Grenier, 1:35:17.06; 50. Dayna Moser, 1:35:22.80; 51. Jean Adamson, 1:35:44.67; 52. Laura Lancaster, 1:38:09.64; 53. Jeff Zavala, 1:39:11.74; 54. Sarah Hadden, 1:42:25.39; 55. Anthony Oliver, 1:43:13.66; 56. Jon Nauma, 1:43:32.05