The Taxrefunds.co.nz Winter Triathlon 2009 from Richard Sutcliffe on Vimeo.
Winter triathlons provide different challenges
By Scott Willoughby
The Denver Post
Think of it as an inverted triathlon.
Much the way some say a commode flushes the opposite direction in the now summery southern hemisphere, everything about a winter triathlon seems just a little backward. It's cold, snowy and the most technically demanding portion of the race — skate skiing, not swimming — comes at the end, not the beginning. Let's just say they ain't doing it in Rio de Janeiro.
They are doing it in Soldier Hollow, Utah, however, where Coloradans Brian Smith, Jay Henry, Mike Kloser and Rebecca Dussault dominated the USA Triathlon winter triathlon national championship race a year ago.
Dussault went on to win the first world championship title by an American in Norway last February. And although she's still undecided about defending her national title when the race returns to the 2002 Olympic cross country skiing venue Saturday — just a month after giving birth to her third son — her Gunnison neighbor and sometimes training partner Smith will be making his way back to Utah in an effort to reclaim his third consecutive national title in the unsung sport that has captured his heart.
"It's kind of like doing a regular triathlon in reverse, because you finish with the most technical event rather than starting with it," said Smith, 35. "It's harder in the fact that it's really intense, you're never recovering, the transitions need to be flawless, and it's really cold. By the end, it's hard just to get yourself in ski boots and warm up for the ski. But you always finish warm, which is nice."
It goes without saying that winter triathlon is not for the faint of heart. But the niche sport used for cross training by many of Colorado's top endurance athletes lately is catching on as an activity that stands on its own.
"I didn't even know what it was three years ago, so it's fun to see more popping up around the nation," said Dussault, a cross country ski racer on the 2006 Olympic team. "Winter tri suits me really well, with more low-impact type running, technical biking and, of course, the cross country skiing. . . . It's totally advantageous to finish with your strongest event. I like it that way."
Growing up in Gunnison, Dussault shares a lifelong cross country ski racing relationship with many of the Europeans who tend to dominate the snowbound multisport races combining running, mountain biking and skate skiing.
Others, including Smith and 2010 national runner-up Jay Henry of Vail, find the biking element more suited to their abilities, although ultimately it's the combination of elements that lends to its appeal.
"I'm not necessarily good at any of the three, but I can do all three OK. So it's kind of fun for people like me that kind of dabble in all those things," said Henry, a Tokyo Joe's mountain bike pro who rarely rides on snow. "The snow adds a lot of technique (to the biking). It becomes very technical in soft conditions. You are going fast, and then all of the sudden you hit soft snow. I ended up in a tree well (at the world championships), but everyone has a couple crashes and you just have to keep rolling with it. It's just kind of part of it."
Henry compares mountain biking on snow with riding in deep sand. Most competitors employ a similar tactic of deflating knobby tires down to about 10 pounds per square inch (psi) to increase flotation. Although, as 2006 USAT Winter Triathlon national champion Josiah Middaugh of Vail points out, conditions are entirely unpredictable in this sport that is often more suited to snowshoes than trail running shoes.
"It could be really hardpacked and you could be able to ride everything, or you could be off your bike a third of the race," said Middaugh, who will return to the national championship race Saturday for the first time in four years. "The European model is based on running, mountain biking and skate skiing. But in the U.S. version, where there's a little more snow, some of the events have snowshoeing instead of running, which makes a little more sense to me."
Middaugh used Sunday's Beaver Creek Snowshoe Adventure Series race as a late tune-up for his return to the winter tri nationals, handily besting the field of more than 350 competitors spread between 5K and 10K races in a mountain snowstorm. A top XTERRA off-road triathlon racer in the summer months, his only recent experience with winter triathlons is through a short two-race series sponsored by the Pedal Power Bike Shop in Eagle-Vail.
"I can't say I focus on the winter events, but they are probably the most fun," Middaugh said. "If you live in the Rockies, you have to take advantage of what you've got."
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