Lucas Punkari
It was a successful debut into the world of triathlon for 38-year old local resident Jason Kabel as he finished 20th overall out of 130 participants in the 27th-annual Thief River Falls Triathlon on Saturday.
Kabel completed a 500-metre swim, a 20-km bike ride, and a five-km run in a time of 1:17:12, which was good enough for him to also finish second in the 35-39 age group.
“I’m truly happy about that time and finish, considering it’s my first triathlon and the guy who beat me in my age group nearly won the entire event last year,” he remarked.
“I had been training hard for the last eight weeks, just as the squash season was winding down as I was fairly active with that all winter,” Kabel added.
For Kabel, the hardest part was the 500m swim, which is what he worked the hardest on during training.
“I’ve swam all of my life, but not beside two-three other people in the same lane, and all going against a clock for half-a-kilometre,” he explained.
“The bike and the run were no picnic either, though, as it was raining quite heavily at times, and a strong wind can really wreak havoc with the most diligent pedalling,” he added.
But despite battling the elements, Kabel still was happy with how those two disciplines went for him.
“I only had one person pass me on the bike, but I kept him in my sights through the transition to the run and I was able to pass him back before the first kilometre of the run,” he recalled.
With his first triathlon now in the books, Kabel already is thinking about his next two meets, which will be the Paul Bunyan Triathlon in Bemidji, Mn. on July 25 and the Duluth triathlon set for Aug. 7.
“I’m planning to compete at the Olympic length [1.5-km swim, 40-km bike ride, and 10-km run] at one of those meets as they’ll be longer in each of those disciplines than the sprint triathlon distances like in Thief River Falls,” Kabel noted.
