2007 Pickerel Lake Triathlon

The 2007 Pickerel Lake Triathlon (PLT) was another great success. This was the third year of the race and every year has been bigger than the previous. This year's field consisted of 23 participants/teams and as much hype as always.

On Friday night Marv and I used his GPS to set up the buoys for the swimming course while Jason, Darren, Melissa, and Cherie marked the biking and running courses with chalk. They also marked the course with inspirational sayings written on the pavement.

We gathered at 8:00 Saturday morning and made our final preparations. Darren gave the starting instructions but missing from the morning was my dad's pre-race prayer. My dad, an ambassador for the PLT, severely broke his leg earlier in the week and was still in the hospital. We all thought of him as we competed and one of the inspirational sayings written on the pavement was "Do it for Doug!"

The swim is always tough but this year I decided to train hard for it after it killed me last year. I swam laps at a local pool a dozen times before the race and boy did it pay off. I got out of the water 3 minutes faster than last year and wasn't drained either.

Jason had the lead after the 1/3 mile swim, but this year I was only a minute behind the leaders instead of 5.The bike ride is a hilly 9.5 miles with plenty of loose dirt. In an attempt to shave off biking time several of us have turned to road bikes. Unfortunately for Darren, Evan, and Roger the road bike was their downfall. One of the houses along the way put out home made speed bumps which were nothing more than some angle iron. Darren, Evan, and Roger all went over the angle iron with their road bikes and popped their back tire. Jason, Dan, and I were lucky enough to avoid it but the other three had to call it quits.

The unfortunate incident quickly knocked out two top contenders, making it a two man race between me and Jason.

The two of us remained close through the first section of the run but as we made our way around the 5.2 mile run I continued to pull away. I was feeling fantastic and was ultra motivated to win one for the Elenbaases (Marv also couldn't compete because of an injury) because we needed a morale booster.

Here are the final results (bold - course record):

Name	Overall
Randy	1:23:06
Jason	1:27:25
Jake	1:36:41
Paul	1:37:40
Steve	1:43:12
Dan Kuiper	1:44:17
Abby/Kim/Mark	1:50:15
Ben/Lindsay	1:51:26
Dave	1:52:04
Derek	2:01:48
Grace/Elizabeth/Haley/Lydia	2:02:56
Erin	2:09:33
Sam	2:10:26
Seth	2:10:26
Sarah	2:13:01
Melissa Schaaf	2:15:49
Megan	2:15:52
Ken/Jan/Claude	2:19:26
Melissa Tamminga	2:26:55
Mike	2:34:19

With the injuries and bike problems this year the list of lifetime PLT competitors dwindled. The group that has completed all 3 PLTs solo is now me, Jason, Jake, Paul, Steve, and Dan Kuiper.

Name	2005	2006	2007
Randy	1:35:31	1:32:41	1:23:06
Jason	1:35:59	1:24:52	1:27:25
Jake	1:53:58	1:30:38	1:36:41
Paul	1:40:41	1:33:17	1:37:40
Steve	2:02:41	1:53:09	1:43:12
Dan K	1:56:57	1:43:47	1:44:17

Individual leg results:

Name	Swim
Jason	0:11:16
Paul	0:11:54
Darren	0:12:13
Randy	0:12:30
Melissa T	0:12:38
Dan Kuiper	0:13:14
Steve	0:13:18
Abby/Kim/Mark	0:13:31
Evan	0:13:33
Jake	0:13:34
Mike	0:14:29
Ben/Lindsay	0:15:35
Erin	0:15:37
Dave	0:15:44
Seth	0:16:10
Grace/Elizabeth/Haley/Lydia	0:16:53
Sarah	0:16:53
Megan	0:17:05
Sam	0:17:24
Roger/Claire	0:17:40
Melissa Schaaf	0:18:37
Derek	0:20:27
Ken/Jan/Claude	0:23:51

Name	Bike	Bike Pace (mph)
Randy	0:31:46	17.94
Jason	0:33:41	16.92
Dan Kuiper	0:35:36	16.01
Jake	0:39:41	14.36
Steve	0:41:27	13.75
Ben/Lindsay	0:42:25	13.44
Dave	0:42:34	13.39
Derek	0:43:08	13.21
Paul	0:43:51	13.00
Sam	0:45:47	12.45
Seth	0:46:05	12.37
Grace/Elizabeth/Haley/Lydia	0:46:25	12.28
Erin	0:49:35	11.50
Abby/Kim/Mark	0:51:46	11.01
Sarah	0:53:45	10.60
Melissa Schaaf	0:53:50	10.59
Megan	0:55:33	10.26
Melissa T	1:00:00	9.50
Mike	1:03:40	8.95
Ken/Jan/Claude	1:04:35	8.83
Darren	DNF	N/A
Evan	DNF	N/A
Roger/Claire	DNF	N/A

Name	Run	Run Pace (min/mi)
Randy	0:38:50	7:28
Paul	0:41:55	8:04
Jason	0:42:28	8:10
Darren*	0:42:35	8:11
Jake	0:43:26	8:21
Abby/Kim/Mark	0:44:58	8:39
Roger/Claire*	0:47:26	9:07
Steve	0:48:27	9:19
Ken/Jan/Claude	0:51:00	9:48
Ben/Lindsay	0:53:26	10:17
Dave	0:53:46	10:20
Dan Kuiper	0:55:27	10:40
Derek	0:58:13	11:12
Grace/Elizabeth/Haley/Lydia	0:59:38	11:28
Sarah	1:02:23	12:00
Megan	1:03:14	12:10
Melissa Schaaf	1:03:22	12:11
Erin	1:04:21	12:23
Sam	1:07:15	12:56
Seth	1:08:11	13:07
Melissa T	1:14:17	14:17
Mike	1:16:10	14:39

*Ran recreationally after incomplete bike leg.

Erin decided she wanted to complete the triathlon this year to prove she could do it. She did more than that. Erin had a solid swim time, an excellent bike time, and gutted out the run to finish FIRST among the women! Nice work Erin. So it was a very successful athletic day for our little family. 2007 Champs!

On Sunday my siblings and I all drove over to Dearborn to spend the evening with my dad in the hospital. Get well soon dad! We expect you back for the PLT next year.