For the week of July 10 - 16, 2002

A sprint to the finish

Athletes compete in 17th Sprint Triathlon

---

By JODY ZARKOS
Express Staff Writer

It’s hard to say what will wear off faster for participants of last weekend’s 17th annual Sun Valley Sprint Triathlon—the black marker numbers on their bodies or the satisfaction of completing a great sporting event.

Tagged here by swimmer teammate Mollie Parker, bicyclist Peter Webb went out and smoked the field to help his threesome win the mixed team event of Sunday’s Sun Valley Sprint Triathlon in Sun Valley. Webb’s 31:35 bike time was the best of all 112 athletes. Express photo by Willy Cook

Fun was the defining adjective for most of the 112 competitors—48 individual athletes finishing the 18-mile course and those on 23 teams.

‘It was great fun," Shannon Webb said. "I liked the team aspect of it." Calley Brown concurred. "It was fun and exciting."

Ketchum’s Grant Folske and Jess Drasuan of Denmark and the University of Idaho claimed individual titles in Sun Valley on Sunday.

Folske, 25, who hails from North Dakota, completed the half-mile swim, 14-mile bike ride and four-mile run in one hour, 14 minutes and five seconds.

A former distance runner at Minnesota’s Moorhead College, Folske trailed five men after the swim, but he passed three challengers on the bike and turned in the fastest running leg (26:55) to beat runner-up Matt Morell (1.18:52) by more than four minutes. Steve Lesieur was third in 1.20:36.

It was quite a performance for Folske, who won the Wolverine 10k Run and Walk on Thursday in Hailey and finished 31st out of an estimated 600 at a half-triathlon at Sun River, Oregon the previous weekend.

"My legs were a little tired, but I made up some time on the bike and then passed Matt on the run," Folske said. "I was pretty happy."

The 24-year-old Drasuan had the fastest running leg in the women’s individual race (30:32) to claim the overall title in 1.25:16. Angela Strickland was second in 1.26:54. Kathy Morell was third in 1.27:29.

"I enjoyed it," Drasuan said. "I just started doing triathlons last year and this was a lot of fun."

Of course it was not all smiles and Gatorade for everyone, but most had a healthy perspective.

Jeff Wood, 12, of Phoenix, who admitted to doing math equations in his head to combat the physical challenge, said, "It’s hard, but when you finish it is all worth it."

Individual class winners were Erin Blundell, Nicole Brown, EJ Harpham, Leslie Howa, Jeff Wood, Robert Gaylord, Ralph Zehuder, Shaun Marshall-Pryde, Dave McBryant, Duane Reed and Charley French.

Team champs were Pat Baldwin, J.J. Somer and Dale Closner in men’s division (1.35:52). Nadia Novik, Cindi Hillemeyer and Brooke Baughman won women’s in 1.26:09.

Youth was served in the mixed team class. Mollie Parker, Peter Webb and Angenie McCleary won in a blistering 1.11:48.

Afton Walsh, Bob Walsh and Joe Walsh had the Rocky Mountain right-of-way in the family division, winning in 1.28:22.

Courtney Perry, Robert Slough and Hannes Thum finished in 1.23:07 to take the 19-and-under mixed class.

Calley Brown, Alexa Turzian and Tess Dahlgren took top honors in 19-and-under women’s class in 1.30:30.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.