By: Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Swimming, biking, and running over 50 athletes tested their endurance Saturday morning at the twenty-second annual Bucyrus YMCA Triathlon.
Held every Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend the Bucyrus YMCA Triathlon begins with athletes swimming 500 yards in the Y’s swimming pool, dashing to their bikes for a 12 mile bike ride, then finishing the race with a 5 K run.
Crossing the finish line first was Tim Gribble with a time of 1:00.06 Gribble explained that the area YMCA’s Triathlons are part of a series for the first time, and that he hopes to win.
“Bucyrus, Galion and Marion YMCA’s are putting together a series for the first time, and this is the first leg of it. I’m going to do all three and hopefully take the crown.”
The Mid Ohio YMCA Tri Series is a three race series will combine points from Saturday’s race with the Galion YMCA Triathlon held July, 25 and the Marion Triathlon held August 15.
The first woman to cross the finish line was Sheri Branum with a time of 1:03:44. Branum explained how she trained to prepare for the triathlon.
“I’ve been doing three runs a week, two bikes, and two swims, weight training and speed training,” Branum explained.
While Branum crossed the finish line first she revealed that she feels that swimming is the most difficult stage of the triathlon.
“I just learned to swim maybe ten years ago,” Branum said. “So it is not natural for me.”
For those who want to get their friends involved the Bucyrus YMCA Triathlon also allows teams to compete with a different team member competing on a different leg of the race. With a time of 58:44 minutes, the team of Brandon Button, Brady Van Dyke, and Javon Thomas were one of the first teams to cross the finish line.
Button explained how the team came together for the race.
“This is kind of a last minute thing to be quite honest. We had a friend, Jenny Myers, that she is doing three in the series, and I just saw a post that she was going to do this, and I said, ‘hey this is a great race I have done it in the past.’ She said, ‘you should come out and do it to.’ I was like I haven’t been in a pool in a year and a half. So I said let me put together a team, and we will see what we can do. These guys stepped up, and they all did outstanding performances,” Button said.
Race Results:
Overall Male
Tim Gribble 1:00:06
Overall Female
Sheri Branum 1:03:43
Crawford Male
Andy Muntis 1:12:17
Crawford Female
Kelsey Keller 1:17:11