I’ve been off the radar for a little while.  Not due to lack of ideas to write about, but due to lack of time. For the past seven months I have been part of the planning team for the inaugural Bozeman Tritons Triathlon.  Our local triathlon club, of which I am co-director, took over the local races this year after the previous race director decided to get out of the business.  Our club took up the challenge and decided to re-brand the races with our own ideas and image.

I’ve been on the other side of racing for years.  While I’m not a competitive athlete, I do like a good challenge and the accomplishment of putting in my best effort.  Being on the race directing side of the game was a new challenge that I wanted to take on, both as a way of giving back to the community and as a way of challenging myself in new ways.

We put together a fantastic team of individuals ranging in age and experience from the young and eager, to the older and wiser.  This is absolutely critical in taking on anything like this.  One or two people just can not get the work done.  A key part of this was teaming with the Montana Conservation Corps.  Adult and youth crews did a lot of the heavy lifting that made this event happen in the last days leading up to the race and for manning aid stations during the event itself.

Early on in the process we decided to put on two races, a Long Course (Half Ironman) Triathlon and a Sprint Distance Triathlon.  This allows an entry point for new racers and a challenge for those who are more experienced.  We also added in a kid’s race so there was something for the entire family.  We spread the three races out over a weekend, with the Long Course race on Saturday, followed by the Sprint race on Sunday.  We figured that as long as we had the park reserved and set up for a race, we might as well take advantage of it.  In the end we had over 200 athletes from across the US and Canada race.

July was has a blur of final planning meetings, following up with timers, award makers, vendors, athletes, volunteers, rental companies, sponsors, event sanctioning, and lifeguards.  Our goal was to put on a really good weekend of racing.  One that was safe, memorable, challenging, and worthy of our efforts.

Montana creates a perfect backdrop for putting a race together.  It is hard to put on a really bad race when the mountains are in the background of just about every photograph, but you still need to cover all of the details necessary for the race.  The long course race alone requires over 9 different aid stations loaded with at least a couple of volunteers, food, water, porto-potties, etc.  Even the locals (ducks) stepped up and provided entertainment to the racers, spectators and volunteers.  We’ve been watching this group of ducks grow up from little fuzz balls six weeks ago, into mostly-grown creatures ready for the trip south.  They’ve spent the summer dodging swimmers, kayaks, and stand-up paddle boards, so the racers didn’t phase them on race morning.  In fact they were right in the mix.  If we had little duck bikes, they may have headed out for stage 2.

For me, the real rewards of putting on this race were the looks on the athletes’ faces.  Our first place finisher for the long course finished in about 4 hours and 36 minutes.  That is smoking fast for as tough a course as we developed.  In last place was a 59 year old gentleman who finished in around 9 hours and 30 minutes.  That’s a long time to be out on a hot summer day.  As he came into the race venue for his final lap around the lake, one of our volunteers was running beside him holding a small umbrella over his head.  It was perfect moment and a fitting way to bring together both the athlete’s and volunteer’s experiences.

Unfortunately, the tasks do not end when the race is over.  Starting at around noon on Sunday we needed to tear down the race, pack up everything that we had accumulated over the past several months, return rented and borrowed items, and get the storage shed packed up until next year.  After only about 8 hours of sleep over the previous 3 nights, combined with 90+ degree heat, this made for a mighty challenge.

In the days since the race I have still been following up with paying bills, answering emails, posting results, reporting on incidents, etc.  It’s seemingly endless.  The thing that makes it worthwhile is the feedback we get from the athletes and the looks on their faces.  Old and young, experienced and green, the energy was fantastic!  It has been incredibly rewarding for me.  We’ve learned a lot of lessons that will help the race next year.  What?  Next year?  Yes, we are already thinking about next year.  But for now it is time to enjoy the Montana summer.