Friday, August 27 - Saturday, August 28, 2010 -- Morgantown, WV
Sprint, Splash 'n Spin Triathlon (iPO Event Id#: 12911)

2010: [Details] [Coverage] [Photos] [Overall Results] [Kids Tri. Photos]

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Largest Showing Yet for Area Triathlon

Article and photos by J.R. Petsko with additional photos by Julie Black.

See more race photos, Adults Tri.

This past weekend was one of Morgantown's most popular events, the 7th annual Sprint, Splash and Spin triathlon Mon County Habitat for Humanity.

For the past four or five years I have been the iPlayOutside.com photographer for the event and more than once I said to myself that I should have signed up and took part in the race. Well, this year I did just that.

I still planned to be the iPlay photographer for the race, so first I needed to find someone to step in for me while I was out on the course.

Luckily, Julie Black was more than happy to get up at 6:30 am and come down to take photos for a bit while I tried not to make a fool of myself.

This is me racing! See more race photos, Adults Tri.

After I completed the race it was pretty clear why the event grows bigger and bigger each year. It was so much fun!

Read more about my personal experience of the race on my blog at: dynamiccycling.blogspot.com/.

For 2010 the event had its largest number of competitors with 236 individuals and 19 teams taking part. It all started off with the first wave of racers taking off at 7:00 am. After a very hot summer, it was a shock to many that the temperatures were as cool as they were so early that morning, but it was a welcome change.

The fastest swim of the day belonged to fourteen year old Justin Kostelnik of Uniontown, PA. Kostelnik must be part fish as his time was 3 minutes and 36 second.

Other great times belonged to Jake Pletz of Venetia, PA(3:45), Brian Train of Morgantown, WV(3:59), Max Quealle(3:59)and Jason Balko Morgantown, WV(4:06).

See more race photos, Adults Tri.

Jason Balko, one of the favorites to win the event, used his quick swim as take command of the race early and had no plans of slowing down. Balko a solid cyclists completed the bike portion of the race in 28:54. He capped off his performance by throwing down a 19:47 time in the run which was forth fastest all day and locked up the win for the Morgantown resident with a total time of 53:55.

Another local racer, Gerald Audet, took second on the day in a total time of 55:45. Audet completed the run leg with the fastest time of the day, 18:56, to rocket him up the leader board. Brian Sherlock of Star City, WV also used a great run time of 20:19 to move up the leader board to finish the event with the third best overall time of the day.

See more race photos, KIDS Tri.

For the women, Lori Sherlock joined her husband's winning ways by being the overall women winner of the day with a time of 1:01:22. Lori, like the men's winner, used a great swimming time to lead early and never slowed down.

Second for the women was Leah Hammer Fink who completed the course 1:06:51. Fink was able to just edge out Suzanne Bishop who finished third just 31 seconds behind.

In the team category it was "The Chamrakhs" had the fastest total time combined, a 55:37. The all family team Jeff (Dad), Sara (Mom), and Seth (son) of "Team Edwards" took home second place in the team division following their 1:00:06 out on the course. Rounding out the top three teams was "Mom's Electrons" in 1:02:02.

In the end it didn't matter if you finished in 55 minutes or an hour and 55 minutes because it was a great time! I highly suggest you try it if you haven't already. If you have, do it again! You can't beat it.

Special thanks to the many volunteers and participants who by participating in this event helped to raise money for Mon County Habitat for Humanity and create a fun community event that highlights Morgantown's superb recreational facilities, provided by BoParc.