June Lake Tri makes a big splash
Budding triathletes rip into the water for the first-ever Kid’s Mini Sprint during this year’s JL Tri. (Photo: Stayden)
George Fowler would have been pleased. The late Mammoth local business icon and athlete who passed away in 2009, loved to run the annual June Lake Triathlon, and you could feel his presence during the festivities on the June Lake Beach, as hundreds of runners — including, for the first time this year, KIDS! — swam, biked and ran their way through what’s become known far and wide as “the toughest race in the most beautiful place.”
Entrants had a choice of Olympic Distance Triathlon: 1.5k Lake Swim/40k Road Bike/6.5-mile Trail Run, or Sprint Distance Triathlon: 1/4-mile Lake Swim/8-mile Road Bike/2.25-mile Trail Run. This year’s event also included a Kid’s Mini Sprint, 100-yard Swim, 2-mile Bike through the campground and a 1-mile Trail Run.
In the Kid’s Mini Sprint, for the girls, Allyson Swain took the 11 and older category with a 19:37.2, Zenya Simeon won 9-10 with a 22:02.3 and Maya Weber won 6-8 with a 25:09.2. In the boys race, Kyle Swain won 11 and older at 19:17.4, Matthew Weber won 9-10 with a 23:52.0 and Aidan LeFrancois won 6-8 with a 22:30.2.
In Women’s Olympic, Rochelle Hair took top honors, first in her age group and overall with a 2:24:57.4. Not far behind were Ellen Sherrill in second with a 2:37:53.3 and Jillian Whisler in third with a 2:46:18.5.
In the Men’s Olympic, Chris Morgeson took home first place with a 2:19:44.0, followed seconds later by Rick Crump in second at 2:20:00.1 and Christopher LaPierre in third with 2:21:33.0.
Danielle Nivinski (Photo: Stayden)
In Female Sprint, 14-year old Danielle Nivinski was not only first in her age group, but also overall, running a 57:23.3, followed by Amy LaPierre at 58:55.9 and Lindsay Ferro at 1:01:11.8. (The Sheet’s Lara Kirkner also came in a respectable 31st overall at 1:14:04.2.)
In Men’s Sprint, Dan Browne (in his first triathlon) took first overall with a blisteringly fast 49:21.2 followed by Adam Obenberger in second with a 53:36.2 and Stuart Brown in third at 53:49.7.
One runner of note was Mammoth local Chris Hernandez, who was badly injured earlier this year in a snowboarding accident. His men’s relay team, the “Hernando Beach Crew” that also sported runners Jared Sullivan and Dave Rodriguez, placed 4th overall with a 2:03:24.9.
Congratulations to all the individual runners and relay teams!
Complete results are available at http://www.highsierratri.org/junetri2010.pdf.
