Beautiful day greets triathletes

PALMER — What does it take to put on a triathlon?

Well, in Wasilla at least, it takes 550 competitors, more than 175 volunteers and more than 100 gallons of water, among other things.

Also, throw in a beautiful day for good measure.

The Why Not Tri sprint triathlon, in its fourth year, includes a 9.25-mile bike course, a 400-meter swim and a 3-mile run starting and ending at the Wasilla High School pool.

The race officially started at 9 a.m., Saturday, and the first competitor crossed the finish line at 9:13 a.m. But before you go calling the Guinness Book of World Records, you should probably take into account that a special class of donors got to go swimming an hour early.

“Our first group made a donation to ALS so they could swim earlier,” race organizer Heather Hogge said.

Race founder Robin Rice said that the idea to make the race a fundraiser came from her brother, who died of ALS just before that first race. Her brother had suffered with the condition — also called Lou Gehrig’s disease — for five years, and as he did Rice was laying the groundwork for the race.

“I kept telling him, ‘You’ve got to hold on to see the race,’” she said.

Rice said she saw an opening to start a race in Wasilla when she realized there wasn’t one here. There was one in Palmer, three in Anchorage, one in Eagle River, one in Kenai, even one in Kodiak.

Like any big event, the triathlon had its share of hiccups. Hogge said the public address system had some initial malfunctions.

“But, before our first finish, we had it up and running,” Hogge said.

Also, an early racer had trouble staying on course, a problem Rice solved with a few calls to other volunteers. Oh, and Rice got yelled at.

A guy in a truck, she said, stopped when she was out painting arrows on the sidewalk pointing the way for runners. She was using spray chalk, which isn’t permanent.

“He said, ‘that’s illegal!’” Rice said.

But, overall, both Rice and Hogge were pleased with the race’s fourth year.

“It’s gone really well so far,” Hogge said.

Rice said the numbers were a little bit down from last year. Anchorage staged a competing race in the Color Run 5-K, a race that involved painting the competitors as they ran. But she was super excited at the number of kid who entered. The kids’ race was open to children ages 6 to 12. It was a much shorter course and the kids weren’t timed.

“It’s just for fun,” Rice said. “It’s a way to start a healthy lifestyle early.”

See Tuesday’s Frontiersman for full Why Not Tri results.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.