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closeUNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State Triathlon Club member Marc Paulhamus won the Happy Valley Sprint Triathlon on Sunday morning with a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 12 seconds. Vicki Barclay won the women's division for a second year in a row in 1:14:31.
Eric Smith
Sandy Erwin of Port Matilda crosses the finish line on Curtin Road on Sunday morning. The Happy Valley Sprint Triathlon started with swimming at the Penn State Natatorium. Participants then biked out Fox Hollow Road and back, and ran a road race that went out North University Drive and looped through Tower, Big Hollow and Bigler roads, ending on Curtin Road.
The race, in its second year, includes a 750-meter swim in the outdoor pool at Penn State’s McCoy Natatorium, and a 20-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run on the roads. More than 200 people, including 11 relay teams, completed the race — doubling the participation from 2008.
Paulhamus, 21, a Penn State senior from Williamsport, raced along with several of his triathlon club teammates. Paulhamus said he liked the course, especially that the run portion was “not completely flat.” The Happy Valley race was his second sprint distance triathlon. He prefers the Olympic distance which is a 11/ 2-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike, and a 10-kilometer run.
Barclay, 27, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State, said she has only raced sprint distance triathlons, though she would like to move up to longer distances. “I’m mainly a cyclist,” she said, “but I love to run and I love to swim.”
Erik Scott, 39, owner of The Bicycle Shop in State College and one of the triathlon’s sponsors, was second overall in 1:04:29. Scott Etter, 45, of State College and one of the race’s co-directors, was third in 1:04:49.
Fresh off a first-place finish at the Central PA 4th Fest Firecracker 4K and racing her second ever triathlon, Meira Minard, 35, of State College, was second in the women’s division in 1:16:06. Minard finished just ahead of her high school swimming coach, Jackie Morrison, of Clearfield. Morrison, 45, took third in 1:16:46.
The day’s oldest competitor was 78-year-old State College resident Ruth Kazez. Kazez finished in 1:58:15 and took home an age group medal.
Paul Fritzsche, a professional triathlete and coach from State College who directed the race along with Etters and Megan Schuchert, said he enjoyed the opportunity to “see racing from the other side.” In its second year, he said the event attracted a large number of first-time triathletes as well as serious competitors. Participants came from as far away as Texas and Washington.
Fritzsche graduated from Penn State in 1999 and recently moved back to State College. He is gearing up for his 10th Ironman in Lake Placid, N.Y., on July 26. Standing outside the McCoy Natatorium where he swam as a student, Fritzsche said the campus “has the same positive energy now that it did then.”
State College dentist Bob Saylor said he used the race as a tune-up before his first half-iron distance (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) triathlon on July 19. He raced his first triathlon at the 2008 Happy Valley Sprint Triathlon.
Saylor, who ran the Boston Marathon in April, said, “The hardest thing about training for a triathlon is the time training.” Saylor said that while he doesn’t do as much running training for a triathlon as he does when he’s training for a marathon, he works out six days a week, and usually combines swimming and running workouts on the same days.
Saylor’s company, Central PA Endodontics, was a sponsor of the race, and is eager to race it again next year.
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