Saturday, July 26, 2008 -- Bridgeport, WV / Maple Lake
J. Cecil Jarvis Memorial Triathlon (iPO Event Id#: 10915)

[Details] [Coverage] [Photos] [Overall Results] [Results by Class]

Jumping into the lake...

Fabulous First Year Showing

Story and photos by J.R. Petsko

Triathlons have always amazed me. You would think when you take three sports like swimming, cycling, and running, and put them together that only the fittest of the fit would take part in the event. That is usually never the case at any triathlon.

Yes of course you have your expert athletes trying for the victory, but usually the majority of the field is made up of people just trying to challenge themselves. Good for you all!

This past weekend's tri was the first ever J. Cecil Jarvis Memorial Triathlon at Maple Lake which is just outside Bridgeport, West Virginia. Cecil Jarvis, who the event was in memorial of, was killed in a bicycle crash in rural Lewis County while training for Louisville Ironman. Cecil completed over 20 marathons including The Boston Marathon on April 2007, and 4 Ironman triathlons (swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles).

As a testament to the life that this man lived over 120 competitors showed up to take part in the first year event.

Out of the water, onto the bike

The triahtlon began with a 600 yard swim in maple late. At first when you say it 600 yards does seem like much. Then you start to realize that 600 yards is the length of 6 football fields. When I saw the course laid out in Maple Lake I said to myself, "Man . . . that is a long swim."

Beau Kricak made little work of the swim being first out of the water with the fastest swim leg in 9 minutes and 21 seconds.

Morgantown's tri-athlete hero Vinnie Monseau, was third out of the water and ahead of his major competition Thomas Wood and Derek Roberts.

Big shout out to my buddy Bill Ulmer who put in a good swim. Bill is usually up front in these races but due to a nagging injury he did the race as part of a team

Notable swimmer, Hannah Veron, threw down a 10:23 for the sixth fastest swim of the day.

Hope you all aren't tired because now it's time for a 12-mile bike ride! By this time the day was starting to warm up a little and I wondered if that was going to be a factor for the racers.

Monseau made little work out of the ride finishing in 29:19, the best ride time of the day. Behind him the race for second and third was a hot one. Thomas Wood finished the ride with the second best time, 32:21, moving him from 8th to 2nd after the bike leg.

Cruising on the road

Derek Roberts was staying steady after a 7th best time in the swim. He followed with a 34:21 bike time that was fifth best one the day.

Hannah Vernon continued to lead the women's field by finishing the bike leg in 39:18. Her nearest competitor was Amy Eddy who finished the ride in 40:20.

The last triathlon leg was an out and back 5K run around Maple Lake. Monseau was not to be denied on this day. With a 17:57 in the run for the fastest 5K time Monseau took the overall win with a total time of 56:52.

Thomas Wood finished strong in the run with a 18:40 which was the third fastest run to take home second overall. Derek Roberts stayed consistent all day long and finished the run in 22:15. The consistent finish in all three legs paid off to give Roberts third overall for the event.

On the women's side Amy Eddy was able to gain a little time on Vernon in the rain, but it just wasn't enough. Vernon finished the run in 26:21 to take the overall Women's victory. However, Eddy's run of 25:36 was fast enough to lock down second overall for her on the day.

Just behind Eddy was Sandy Offutt who finished with a total time of 1:20:21. Offutt had a great bike ride time of 37:08 that elevated her to the top three.

In the team competition, The Apathetic Geezers finished first with a blazing time of 1:04:17. Team E put in a great effort and finished just behind "the geezers" in 1:05:30. The third best team time of the day went to the Unified Team that just edged out Team Kluek by four seconds to finish in 1:13:46.

It was a great first year for a new event. I hope this race continues on for years to come and I challenge all of you who are reading this who didn't take part to try this first class event out in 2009!

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Thanks to the Event Sponsors

Thanks for all who participated

Title Sponsor: United Hospital Center

Swim Sponsor: City Window & Construction Co. and Stuart McMunn Company

Bike Sponsor: Central Supply, MVB Bank and MEC Construction

Run Sponsor: McNeer, Highland, McMunn and Varner,L.C. Attorney At Law

Transition Area Sponsor: United Hospital Center Emergency Department

Finish Line Sponsor: Harrison County Commission

Post Race Picnic Sponsor: Texas Roadhouse

Corporate Sponsor: UHA-WVU Department of Emergency Medicine

In Kind Sponsors: The Exponent Telegram, WBOY, Magic 106.5, Tyler Mountain Water, North Pole Ice, Maplewood Senior Living Community

Individual Gold Contributors: Waste Management, Swanson Industries

Individual Silver Contributors: Pinti Physical Therapy, Bridgeport Physical Therapy, Timothy Sergent