THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Once Dohrman found that gear, his love of triathlons grew
Chris Dohrman likes a good challenge.
Whether that comes from the teams in the North Star League as a longtime coach at Lakeside High in Plummer, or away from the football field or basketball court.
Come Sunday, his biggest challenge could be overcoming his own expectations in the Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene.
DOHRMAN, 46, an accountant for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, will compete in his 20th Ironman competition this weekend (his 15th 70.3 race; he's done five full Ironmans). Even with that experience, he’s still taking it all in.
“I just really enjoy competing,” Dohrman said. “The training and people I’ve met doing it have been great. It’s a challenge, and as I get older, it works a little better than the traditional sports that I used to play in high school like basketball and football. It’s been a challenge as far as learning to swim and bike competitively, but it’s something I can do on my own.”
Dohrman got into triathlons from a suggestion from friend Jeff Oka, who is also his boss.
“I started doing sprint triathlons because of him,” Dohrman said. “I started riding and slowly built from there. It’s definitely a new challenge and something I’ve continued to improve on.”
As for some of those first events ...
“I rented a bike and the morning of one of the first events, I had a flat tire,” Dohrman said. “As a kid, I rode a lot of BMX, so I thought I’d be fine. But the triathlon bike, I didn’t know how to shift correctly and I left my timing chip in the transition area.”
That being said, he’s learned from that.
“It’s been a fun journey,” Dohrman said. “I went from not knowing what I was doing to slowly gaining some knowledge. I wouldn’t say I know everything, but it’s fun to find a challenge and continue to improve. I like meeting new people and all the training is kind of the icing on the cake.”
EARLIER THIS month, Dohrman stepped down as head football coach at Lakeside after nine seasons. Lakeside advanced to the state playoffs in 2020 for the first time since 2001.
No replacement has been found as of yet, according to Dohrman.
“I’m kind of waiting to see what happens,” Dohrman said. “I’m hoping to see if someone will come in and take that on and fill that role. I might end up doing some coaching one way or another. I’ve been coaching for 20 years, and it’s just time for a little break.”
Dohrman, who is also the Plummer City Council president, intends to continue coaching the Lakeside girls basketball team in the winter.
“Right now, we’re in summer league with the girls,” Dohrman said. “Once we get done with that, we’re into workouts for football and it’s non-stop until the end of February. I’m going to miss the kids, but might be doing some volunteering this season, so I won’t be too far away.”
IF NOTHING else, Dohrman hopes by him competing in triathlons and Sunday’s Ironman proves a point to his athletes.
“A lot of them think I’m crazy for doing this,” Dohrman said. “It’s not something they see every day and not one of those ordinary sports. I want to prove to them that they have the ability to do everything they set their mind to. But a lot of my players think I’m crazy.”
Sunday’s race begins with a rolling start at 6 a.m., with athletes having 8 hours and 30 minutes to finish the race, which consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike leg and a 13.1-mile run.
“Coeur d’Alene is a pretty tough course,” Dohrman said. “I’m trying to finish in under five hours, and that’s my goal. We’ll see where I’m at. My best time is 5 hours, 7 minutes, so I’ve got a little bit of time to take off. But my main goal is to finish and see where I’m at.”
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.
