Athletes beat the weather
<p>Joel Kinnunen finishes first in the Post Falls Sprint Duathlon Sunday. Photo by Bethany Blitz</p>
<p>Ryan Graves, 13, finishes the Post Falls Sprint Triathlon for his relay team. His older brother, Cody, swan the first leg of the race and his friend, Charles Sharples, did the bike section. Photo by Bethany Blitz</p>
Sunday’s storm held off just long enough for all the racers of the Post Falls Sprint Triathlon, Duathlon and Aqua-Bike to finish, the cool air very favorable for the race.
About 70 participants gathered at Q’emiln Park early Sunday morning to hear the pre-race meeting.
The first 25 years Post Falls held this event, it was a duathlon, a 1.5 mile run, a 12.6 mile bike and another 1.5 mile run. The past two years, the race became just a sprint triathlon with a half-mile swim in the Spokane River, a 12.6 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run.
This year, the race brought back the duathlon and added an aqua-bike, where participants only do the swimming and biking portions of the race.
The top male finisher of the duathlon was Joel Kinnunen, 50, of Coeur d’Alene and the top male finisher of the aqua-bike was Gary Smith, 54, of Rathdrum.
The first place male finisher of the triathlon was Shannon Horn, 42 of Post falls and the first place female finisher was Lauren Ketner, 36, of Hayden. Race times were not available.
Race Organizer Stacey Camin has been running the show for 17 years.
“I love all the events we do,” she said. “This is one of my favorites because it has some of the nicest people to work with. The volunteers are great and everyone just pitches in.”
The bike section of the race had some hold-ups when a car accident happened on Carpenter Loop. None of the racers were injured, but the bikes had to wait as the accident was cleared from the road.
“The crash was annoying because I had a good pace and it allowed everyone to catch up,” said Charles Sharples, the 12-year-old biker part of a relay team.
Sharples and his friend, Ryan Graves, wanted to do the triathlon as a team, so they enlisted Graves’ older brother, Cody, to join them. Cody Graves swam, Sharples did the bike leg and Ryan Graves ran.
Sharples’ mother, Michelle, is a triathlete herself but had a fun time being a spectator, as anxious as it made her.
“If I’m out on the course, I know they’re somewhere out there with me, but when I’m sitting and waiting it’s torturous,” she said. “I want a drone so I can watch them and know they’re safe.”
The three boys were excited about their race and decided if they were ever to do a longer triathlon, they would want to do it as a team.