Sunday, June 08, 2008

Bonaire Triathlon 2008

The sixth annual Triathlon to benefit the Jong Bonaire youth center took place early Sunday morning on the beautiful Kralendijk waterfront. I posted a bunch of pictures on Photobucket.

There were classes for teams as well as for individuals. There were two distance categories too. In the Fun Category, the swimming distance was 850 meters, the bike route was 11.6 kilometers, and the running route was 5 kilometers. In the Pro Category, all those distances were doubled.

The swimming leg started at 7 am. I had to leave at 8 to go set up the PA system for our church service at the high school, but I got to see some of the short course competitors begin the run and the long course people head out on the second lap of the bike course. There were a couple scary moments when the Pro class bikers came blazing through the start finish area on their way to the second lap of the bike leg, while fans, and the Fun class and team class people were scattered all over the road transitioning to the run leg.
One Pro class competitor, who shall remain nameless, endured some good natured ribbing, when he hopped off of his bike to begin the run after completing only one of the required two bike laps. Can you say "oxygen debt?" This same competitor had been heard to exclaim, "I almost drowned" as he exited the water after the swim leg. Ain't sports fun!
At the end of the bike leg, one of the kids executed a beautiful Cyclocross style transition from riding to running, except that instead of picking up his bike, he just dropped it in the street. As he went running away, someone yelled to him to take off his helmet, so he popped it off his head and left in in the middle of the road as well. Maybe next year I ought to bring a video camera to catch the action. I think this kid would have been a hit on YouTube.

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