ISU students, faculty test their mettle, stamina
October 9, 2000
Last Saturday morning, many ISU students and faculty were huddled in their warm beds, dreading waking up to the cold weather. However, at 9 a.m., 36 people were braving the frigid conditions to test their stamina.
The ISU Triathlon Club held its second annual Cy-Man Duathlon. Students, faculty and law enforcement officers were invited to either form teams of three or participate individually in an event that included a two mile run, a 15 mile bike ride and then a second two mile run.
The event was held in Cambridge, a town about 10 miles southeast of ISU’s campus. Participants ran through downtown Cambridge and biked on Story County road R70.
Despite several inquiries and increased interest in the annual event, turnout ended up being only a handful more than the previous year’s. “We believe we would have had more day-of entries if it hadn’t been so cold,” said Brett Myers, sophomore in computer engineering.
“We got about the same amount of people as last year, but twice as much interest,” Andy Hollingsworth, senior in aerospace engineering said. The club received a large amount of inquiries about the event over e-mail.
Competition consisted of eight age category divisions for both male and female and team divisions. Medals were given to people who placed in each division, and then the top three female and top three male times overall.
Although the Triathlon Club was more involved in volunteering for the event rather then participating, Hollingsworth and sophomore Corey Schmidt both entered the competition and received medals. Schmidt placed second in the 19-under division with a time of 1:28:57, while Hollingsworth medalled second overall with a time of 1:09:46.
When asked how the cold affected him during the race, it didn’t seem to be much of a factor overall. “My legs were really cold, and I cramped up a little on the bike, but otherwise it didn’t affect me much,” Hollingsworth said.
Purdue was scheduled to compete against Iowa State in a collegiate division, but it fell through at the last minute.
The club also hopes to start a law enforcement division, where law enforcement officers from all over the state could come to compete against each other. “We hope to have more entries and more volunteers for next year,” Myers said.
The ISU Triathlon Club’s next big event will be a running event at Living History Farms in Des Moines on Nov. 20. The host course will be picked the day before the competition and will be around five miles long. Last year’s run involved 2500 people, and is open to anyone.