June 25, 2012 7:00 a.m. —
Just over a month away, the world will be watching as the 2012 Summer Olympics in London get underway. One of the more prominent events in the summer Olympics is the triathlon. Some people might have a hard time waiting for the summer games to arrive. Luckily for members around the Meadville area, they didn’t have to.
The fourth annual Dam Tri was held at Woodcock Creek State Park on Sunday. With contestants traveling from all over the northeast, race officials were hopeful for a a good turnout.
“We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day,” race director Kristoph Kocan said. “The weather was great and we were able to get more volunteers than the previous years which made it easy.”
Starting off the day just after 8 a.m. was the Olympic distance race, with the sprint distance group to follow suit roughly 40 minutes after the opening horn.
Just like the day before, the race commenced with swimming, but with a much farther distance to travel. The Olympians were faced with a 1.5K swim, followed by a 40K bike run and a 10K run.
“We believe it is one of the more difficult courses around,” Kocan said. “In four years we have yet to have someone finish the Olympic distance in under two hours.”
That milestone will be safe for at least one more year. Chris Nocera, a 27-year-old from Pittsburgh, took first place in the men’s group with a time of 2:02:58.
“This was definitely a challenging course,” Nocera said. “The bike run has a lot of hills in it that can zap your legs.”
One thing Nocera had going for him was his experience on this course. This is the third straight year Nocera has entered the race and first time winning it.
“Two years ago I came in third place and last year I finished in second, so it is nice to finally make it over that hump.”
Nocera was not the only participant ecstatic about their finish. On the women’s side, 42-year-old Kim Shahaen of Cleveland took gold medal honors with a time of 2:32:09. Unlike Nocera, this was Shahaen’s first attempt on this course.
“A couple of my friends told me about this course so I decided to try it out,” Shahaen said. “I definitely had to make sure I paced myself throughout the race because I know there were some women out here that were faster than me, so I had to make sure I played to my strengths.”
Nocera and Shahean each received $300 for their victory while second place winners Tyler Eckert and Desiree Thomas, and third place winners Matthew Malone and Katie Zielaskiewicz received $200 and $100, respectively. Both Nocera and Shahaen mention that they will definitely return next year to defend their title.
While the Olympic distance was in full force, the contestants from the sprint distance started their race. With a shorter track, the majority of the contestants in this race were still able to finish before the Olympic group. The track for the sprint distance consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, 11.3 mile bike run and 5K run.
Unlike the Olympic distance, participants in the sprint race were divided into a different age groups as well as male and female.
The overall winners of the sprint distance combining all age groups were 33-year old Kevin Webber with a time of 1:00:17, and 51-year old Cheryl Burns with a time of 1:08:10. Following in second were Philip Friedman and Ellen Banick-Kellar. Rounding out the money prize in third place was Mike Glaser and Tammy Powell.
As a whole, everyone involved with the races this weekend couldn’t of asked for a better turnout.
“By far, this has been the smoothest of the four years we have held this race,” Kocan said. “We had a great group of spectators cheering on the athletes and if the races in the future go like this one did, it will be fun every year.”
Local Sports
TRIATHLON: Fourth annual Dam Tri again a success
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