July 2009
In the Bitterroot Athlete Valley

July was the month of the Lake Como Triathlon, July 25th. It was a fantastic day.  The location was beautiful, our transition area was great, the race was exciting and challenging, parking was close, and the food was delicious. It was an all-around perfect day. Everyone had such a great time. It was a very friendly, low-key and down-to-earth event at a spectacular location. We could not have asked for more.  And the Brewfest later that evening in Hamilton was a great place to re-hash the day's experiences. More on this later.

 The group on the right did a Lake Como Tri practice on July 4th. (Also, If you didn't see June's - "almost" an award-winning newsletter about the Couer d'Alene IronMan-check it out :-)

Local Events

July 18th and 19th was the Tour of the Bitterroot in Hamilton put on by the Bitterroot Land Trust and Red Barn Bicycles.  The mountain bike tour off of Skalkaho was a 56-miler fun event with Jeremy Oury coming in first. It was supposed to be a tour, but as Jeremy put it, "If you put numbers on people, it's a race!"  Sunday at 8:00 AM was the criterion on Main Street and later was the Time Trials off Sleeping Child Road. All events were a great draw for Hamilton.

July 17th and 18th were also Logger Days in Darby.  That means axe-throwing, chain-saw wielding, log-rolling, water-dunking, bull-riding good time!  I headed down to the event after i closed the shop and got a few good shots.  (Only in a small town...the ticket takers let me in just to get a few pictures for my newsletter even though they didn't know me.) If you want to see a real Montana event, you won't see this any where else...as I've told others, just don't walk behind the bullseyes because they are throwing axes at them. It was also the Strawberry "Fest" at the park across from Logger Days.

The Lake Como Triathlon

Finally, the big day arrived; July 25th...the long-awaited first ever triathlon at Lake Como.   For years people said, "This would be the perfect location for a triathlon!"  But, I don't know if anyone ever applied for the Special Use Permit?  In January, I got a group together and we discussed the possibilities. I submitted a proposal and the Darby Forest Service said to submit a formal request.  We did, and by April, when we were beginning to doubt it happening, we got the OK! Now we had to get moving.  We had to get a logo, a website, a committeee... we had to get the word out!!  We needed sponsors! 

It all came together the fourth Saturday of July.  I was a bit concerned about the water level being low because it is used for irrigation, but in the end it wasn't bad and it didn't seem to bother anyone. The Brewfest (beer-tasting outdoor event) was in Hamilton the same evening and that seemed to go pretty well with the event also. 

Our transition/set-up area was near the metal bridge that connects to the dam. Parking was close for triathletes, which was very convenient. Our committee really thought the beach parking lot would have been the perfect spot for the transition, but as it turned out with the Forest Service not wanting us to disturb regular beach-goers, we ended up liking the area we had even more than we thought we would. 

We all gathered for a pre-race meeting at 7:40 AM on a beautiful blue-sky summer morning.  After a few course highlights, timers were rounded up, athletes tip-toed into the water, and I sounded the horn to start the race.  The red canoe led the swimmers out into the lake towards the mountains in the West with the sun highlighting the turbulence as they splashed towards the first buoy. We later found out that the sun was in their eyes the whole way back in the counter-clockwise route.  Next year we will switch it to clockwise and aim in to the beach finish at an angle.

The first swimmers out were Greg Bremer and Kristen Weese and the race was on.  They both ran up to the transition area near the dam and Greg slipped out of his wetsuit and grabbed his bike, while Kristen tagged a fellow team member in the designated area, who then headed out on his bike. Timers waited at the mount line to record the time the bikers headed out on the second race segment, which was all on the south hills of the lake.

Volunteers from Ravalli County Search and Rescue, Lost Trail Ski Patrol, and the Trapper Creek Student Council were all in place on the bike and run routes to direct, guide, take bikes as they came in, and provide water.   We also had a number of other volunteers that helped with timing, in boats, and kayaks and a host of other jobs. 

The 7.7 mile run around the Lake was very scenic, but the athletes had to watch their footing for rocks and uneven ground instead of enjoying the views. Training before the event was a better time to enjoy the scenery and the falls.  Jeremy Oury came in first from the run and won overall male at 2:23:15. 2nd was Steve Gideon, 3rd was Greg Bremer.  Joy Adams won overall women's at 2:53:19.  2nd was Sarah Slanger, 3rd was Jordan Ives. The first team in was "Off-the-Couch" Dan Gager, Annie Creighton, and Cindy Jessop-Thomas at 2:34:14.  See the Lake Como Tri results page for more.

The day ended with a delicious catered lunch from the Trapper Creek Job Corp kitchen and an awards ceremony. We all enjoyed the day, made new friends, and visited with other friends and family before cleaning up and heading out. All participants were done before 12:00 and only remnants of sprayed chalk were left on the roads at Lake Como by 2:00. The day came and went like Christmas...all that preparation and it was over so fast. 

Thank you to a host of monetary sponsors, in-kind services, door prize donations, and schwag bag contributors that helped to make the event a spectacular success.   Monetary sponsors included: Jerry Wessels Tire Center, Hilti, Antara Sports, Michael Silverglat MD and Alexis Wagner APRN (Missoula/Bitterroot Valley Sleep Specialists), The Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce, the Ravalli County Bank, and Valley Bike.  Please take a moment to view all the contributions we received.

Professional pictures are available on BigSkyEventPhotos.com to put on magnets, mugs, Facebook or whatever. Check them out while they are still available.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the summer!

P.S. Who ever reads this first and replies back to me will get a free subscription to Runners Magazine...

P.S.S. Tattoo on left is Larry David, comedian & co-creator of Seinfeld, on Taylor Valentino's leg.  He is from San Francisco and said the tattoo is for inspiration when he runs...