Thousands tackle Pumpkinman Triathlon

Stephen R. Sylvanie / Special to the Home News

A wave of dozens of swimmers participate in the first stage of the Pumpkinman Triathlon near the Special Events beach of Lake Mead in the early morning of Oct. 18.

By Brent Hinckley

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 | midnight

Stephen R. Sylvanie / Special to the Home News

Bicyclists participating in the Pumpkinman Triathlon pedal hard up the hill near Hemenway Park on the way to Boulder City on Oct. 18

More than 1,500 athletes came to Boulder City to compete in the Pumpkinman Triathlon on Oct. 18.

"Boulder City has been a great site for the Pumpkiman and once again proved our decision to move the race there (five years ago)," Race Director Brogg Sterrett said. "We had a good mix of competitors from across the country and locally, and we're already looking forward to next year."

The event featured two race distances — the short (0.47-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, 3.1-mile run) and Olympic (0.93-mile swim, 24.9-mile bike and 6.2-mile run). Also, USA Triathlon held its national championships in conjunction with Pumpkiman with racers competing in a half triathlon (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run).

Boulder City had 10 athletes participate and Chris Henderson had the highest finish among the locals.

Henderson finished 25th overall in the sprint distance and third in the male 30 to 34 division, completing the race in 1 hours, 28.15 minutes

"It was awesome. I wasn't expecting to do that well, but it was just a great feeling when I crossed the finish line," said Henderson, a first-time competitor.

Tony Taylor was the only resident to win his division. Taylor was first in the male 60 to 69 division in 2:17.03 and was 354th overall.

Also competing in the sprint division were Troy Selinger, 1:38.51 in 95th, Curtis Wood, 1:55.43 in 227th and Erika Knapp, 2:02.52 in 282nd. There were a total of 449 competitors in the sprint division.

Five residents competed in the longer Olympic distance race. Austin Lelles had the highest finish at 85th in 2:50.37. He was also sixth in the male 1 to 19 division.

Barbara Graham, competed in the Pumpkinan for the second time, dropped nearly 16 minutes off her time from last year. She finished in 3:21.36 and was 10th in the female 40 to 44 division.

"The time's really aren't comparable, because it was a different course than last year," Graham said. "It was a beautiful day for the race. The weather was great."

Graham trained for the race with fellow residents Staci Selinger and Vicki Brown.

"I couldn't have done it without those girls," Graham said.

Staci Selinger finished in 3:10.30 and was 188th, Vicki Brown, 3:33.07 was 266th and Stefanie Frank, 4:12.07 was 351. There were 378 competitors in the Olympic distance.

Dantley Young of Highland, Utah, won the men's overall national title with a time of 4:27:57.

Brent Hinckley can be reached at 990-7822 or brent.hinckley@hbcpub.com.