At 8 a.m. Saturday morning, many folks might take it easy. Kick back. Coffee. Maybe hit the Farmers Market.
But for 72 energetic athletes, they started the day with a 500-yard swim, a 13-mile bicycle ride and a 5-kilometer run in the 11th annual Durango Parks and Recreation Triathlon.
Ashleigh Woodward, recreation assistant at Durango Community Recreation Center, has been overseeing the race for four years and has her finger on the pulse of the event.
“There’s a wide range,” she said about participants. “From beginners who have never done this to people that do them all year. As young as 12 and up to their mid-60s.”
Outside, bikes hung from their seats, waiting over piles of shoes and clothing. Inside, racers swam 20 lengths of the rec center’s 25-yard swim lanes.
After 500 yards in the pool, they rushed through a transition area and pedaled out of town 4.5 miles up East Animas Road (County Road 250), where they turned around under the shade of trees still heavy with dew. Then it was back to the rec center.
There, they hung their bikes, swapped cycling for running shoes and took off in the sun of the Animas River Trail to Iris Park before turning around and back to the finish.
“It’s exercise camouflaged as fun,” said Mary Lasser, a project manager for a software company in Tucson, Arizona. She said the swim was the real challenge.
“I bike and I’m a runner, but I’ve never been a swimmer,” she said, laughing.
When asked why he was about to swim 500 yards, a giddy 73-year-old Ken Downey said he wasn’t sure.
“I’m wondering why I’m still doing this,” he said at water’s edge. “It’s just the enjoyment, the relationships and the fun. Just trying to keep going.”
Woodward called it the “nature of Durango.”
“This is a healthy, active community,” she said. “In Durango, everybody is pretty athletic – biking, running. The swimming is usually the hard part around here.”
Peter Deswood agreed.
“The swim took awhile,” the Farmington resident said. “It was a tough one.”
Deswood said he isn’t in it for the competition but rather the experience.
“Just to be in the mountains and have fun,” he said. “It’s a good environment.”
Michelle Hegmon of Dolores had never done a triathlon before but always wanted to. She saw her opportunity and went for it.
“I had to figure out what my pace was,” she said, “but mostly I was just trying to make sure I didn’t end up with a blown-out knee. “
Then she said she’d do it again.
Final results were not posted as of press time, but overall male and female wins went to locals Julie Thibodeau and Brian Miller.
But mostly, people showed up just to challenge themselves.
Molly Eneneach of Aztec said she felt exhausted but also accomplished.
“The hardest part is when your legs feel like Jell-O, and you can’t feel them anymore,” she said. “After awhile, you just get used to it.”
Lasser, who’s been in Durango all summer, said she loved training in the rain and cool weather.
“I’m from Arizona, where it as dry as a bone and 100 degrees. The weather doesn’t bother me. It’s gorgeous,” she said.
A grill began smoking for racers as they trickled in. Barbecue was on the menu.
When asked how she felt after the event, Lasser didn’t skip a beat.
“I feel like I’m ready to eat something,” she said.
bmathis@durangoherald.com
