Zoey Duncan
For Lori Green, participating in her second triathlon was “unreal.”
The Fort Frances resident swam her way through a tightly-packed sea of bodies in the swimming portion of race, swallowing several mouthfuls of water, en route to a personal best finish of 2:13:47 (85th overall) at the Brewhouse Triathlon in Duluth on Sunday.
“Swimming is a really strong part for me,” noted Green, who previously has run in marathons, including the Boston Marathon.
“I was impressed, actually. I passed a lot of people with the other colour hats [and] I was like, ‘Sweet!’” she added, referring to passing athletes who had started in earlier heats, which are designated by the colour of their swim caps.
Green’s participation in Sunday’s race came just two weeks after her first triathlon—the Paul Bunyan in Bemidji.
“My bike was strong and the run probably was the most difficult,” she recalled.
“It was uphill all the way,” she noted. “It was like, ‘Oh my goodness’ at the end of all those all those hills of biking.
Also participating in the Brewhouse Triathlon was Jason Kabel of Fort Frances, who struggled somewhat with only two weeks of rest between the Bemidji triathlon and Sunday’s race.
“It was very difficult,” he admitted.
“I now know that two weeks is just not enough [time] to expect to exert that much energy.”
Kabel finished in a time of 2:14:51—good for 92nd overall. And while his time was one minute quicker than his showing in Bemidji, he had expected to do a little better.
He previously struggled with getting water in his wetsuit and so he chose to swim without one this time around.
“It was better, still not ideal,” he remarked.
“I also discovered that swimming is definitely my weakest discipline of the event and I have some work to do on the swim.”
Kabel took up triathlon in the spring when he raced in Thief River Falls. He thought it would be good training for squash—a sport in which he’s the top-ranked player in Northwestern Ontario
Now triathlon has made its way into his heart.
Both Kabel and Green are looking forward to future triathlons next year, although next time neither will plan on racing two so close together.
“I would probably do them a month apart,” Green said.
“But Duluth was a nice one to do,” she added.
Also participating Sunday were locals Angela Petsnick and Terri-Lee Tremblay.
Both competed in the shorter sprint course, with Petsnick finishing in 1:24:34 (252nd overall) while Tremblay completed the race in 1:37:29 (364th).
