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Veteran athletes battle Mother Nature to claim Tejas Tri
June 21, 2002

from Greg Pennington, race director

Wow-what a wild morning this past Sunday at the 3rd annual Tejas Triathlon! The ill-timed thunderstorm at 6:15 am came right as participants were parking, getting body-marked, and putting their bicycles in the transition area. The lightning, thunder, and wind caused everyone to scurry to shelter. Many of us huddled under the gazebos near the lake to wait out the storm. As Race Director, I continued to give out announcements with weather updates and postponement information. With input from traffic control officials, 3 USAT officials, and 2 veteran triathlon directors (Andy Stewart and Dave Rainey), the decision was made to convert the triathlon into a swim/run event. Although many folks decided to leave early, the event turned out to be fun for all those who stayed!

Mark Van Akkeren, a college triathlete out of Austin, exited the water first and held the lead until the final mile when Roger Wacker of Houston passed him to take first place with a time of 27:21 to 27:46 for Van Akkeren. The women's race saw the return of Sally Taggart to the Houston multi-sport scene as she finished in first place with a time of 28:51 with Shannon O'Neal coming in a close second at 29:26. The top Master's male and female were Tommy Elder (30:18) and Lynnie Terry (31:23). One interesting sidenote, especially as it relates to the future stars of the sport, is that Kelsey Tucker, age 12, finished 4th overall in the women's division with a time of 30:57, and Austin Turnbull, age 15, finished in a tie for 4th place overall in the men's division with a time of 30:09.

The change to a swim/run event was entirely due to safety issues- it is the commitment of USAT and race directors to ensure that the multi-sport events are planned and carried out with safety as the focus. Some participants wondered why the event could not be rescheduled or even cancelled (with their entry fee returned). The various moving parts to putting on a triathlon, as well as scheduling issues with the community and those entered in the event, combined to make this an impossibility. The following statement was posted in an email to those participants who registered on-line:

Due to the fixed costs of producing an event like this (t- shirts, equipment rentals, police support, water bottles, canoe support, lifeguards, timing service, entry forms, USAT sanction and officals' fees, etc., it is impossible to offer any type of refund or transfer as a result of the weather-caused delay and change to the event. Entry forms stated that there can be no refunds or transfers-this is because of the fixed costs mentioned above. With all of the fixed costs and moving parts in creating a triathlon event, it is impossible to recreate the event at a later date. So, in order to avoid cancelling the event entirely, the decision was made to have the swim/run event that enabled us to host a safe and fun event for all participants. We are sorry for any inconvenience that was caused and hope that you realize that the weather was outside of our control.

PS. For those who chose not to stay or come out that morning, ChampionChip Timing has asked you to mail back the championchip you received at packet pickup to the following address:

ChampionChip Mid-South
7638 Old Spanish Trail
Shreveport, LA 71105


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