The Alexandria Kiwanis Club organized its first charity triathlon to raise money for children in the community. The overwhelming participation in the swimming, cycling and running competitions blew the organizer Reiner away.
“Our goal was to attract 50 people,” said Reiner. “In the end we got 240. We tried to limit it to 200, but I couldn’t say no. We were 8 to 70 years old today.”
Reiner described the event as a sprint triathlon.
“It’s just a shorter course,” she said. “The lengths can vary. That was pretty normal with a 500 yard swim and 12 mile bike ride. We kept the run a little shorter because of the many hills. We didn’t want to be too terribly cruel. “
The race began with either a 500-yard swim or a one-mile paddle. Paddlers were allowed to use kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards if they didn’t want to swim.
Jillian Reiner, the organizer of the Alexandria Kiwanis Triathlon, chats with a medalist after the award ceremony on July 31, 2021. Reiner expects Kiwanis to host another triathlon next summer and it will become an annual event. (Jared Rubado / Alexandria Echo Press)
The second leg of the race was a 12.1 mile bike ride near Lake Brophy. The Douglas County Sheriff’s pose and a handful of volunteers helped the triathletes through the route.
The run was 2.62 miles through the ups and downs in Lake Brophy Park. The runners walked through the trails and up the hills overlooking Lake North Union and the Alexandria Area.
Reiner wanted to create an event for triathletes of all levels. In addition to the standard solo triathlon, duo teams could mark the race in a separate division.
“I don’t think every event has a season, but we wanted them to make ours accessible to beginners,” said Reiner. “I’ve seen them before, so we’ve added a paddle for some swimmers. The swimming part puts some people off. We want beginners to try it out. We tried to make it easy for people to try it out and it sounded like it was. ”
Pickel Events has scheduled the triathlon for the hardcore athletes who fought for medals on Saturday.
“We had professional timers here so that if you come for a while you can get it,” Reiner said. “If you really wanted to race you could do this. We wanted to encourage all kinds of athletes to come here and do this race the way they wanted. I think we did well.”
Alexandria’s Brian Storhaug had the fastest time of 57:01 and beat Corey Nygaard of South St. Paul by 55 seconds. Storhaug and Nygaard were the only two competitors who finished in less than an hour.
Medalists gathered near the finish line to hear the results of 240 triathletes at the first Alexandria Kiwanis triathlon at Lake Brophy Park on July 31, 2021. (Jared Rubado / Alexandria Echo Press)
Joellen Kohlman-Petrick (1:07:40) from Fergus Falls set the fastest female time on Saturday and finished 14th overall. Right behind Kohlman-Petrick was Alxandria’s Kadie Hokanson, who finished in 1:07:56.
All proceeds from the triathlon go to the Alexandria Noontime Kiwanis Club. Reiner hopes to host a children’s triathlon next year after seeing this year’s turnout.
“We got together and thought this would be the perfect facility to hold this event for a good cause,” said Reiner. “We really wanted to bring people out and donate the money to children in the community. Everything revolves around children here. I think we bit off a bit more this year than we could chew, but we really want to add some splash and splash for kids next year. ”
ALEXANDRIA KIWANIS TRIATHLON RESULTS
MEN’S TOP FIVE FINISHERS – 1 – Brain Storhaug 57:01, 2 – Corey Nygaard 57:56; 3-Kurt Youngdahl 1:00:30; 4-Joe Schneiderhan 1:01:20; 5- Easton Syverson 1:02:30; WOMEN’S TOP FIVE FINISHERS – 1- Joellen Kohlman-Petrick 1:07:40; 2- Kadie Hokanson; 3- Lisa Hines 1:10:02; 4- Brita Loynachan 1:12:28; 5- Katelin Roos 1:14:12; TOP FIVE PADDLE FINISHERS – 1- Chris Brown 1:11:33; 2- Marcel Derosier 1:14:43; 3-Martin Machance 1:15:35; 4- brain Böhmer 1:20:50; 5- Adam Barnett 1:21:47