The panel of judges took about two seconds to decide on the selection of the July athlete of the month….Sharon Schmidt. She traveled up to New England for the inaugural Rhode Island Half Ironman competition on July 13. This was an elite field of about 1,300 competitors, many of them professionals. Sharon posted some incredible numbers, and brought great glory to the Wanderers club. She finished first in her age group, 14th among all women, and 147th overall! Her time was 4:55:17 overall. The race consisted of a 1.2 mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.
Sharon has been ripping up the competition in local triathlons (see Berks County Tri) for the last couple of years. But this is the first time she competed against a national field. With the performance, Sharon qualified for the national championships for the half ironman in November in Clearwater, Florida.
Sharon was not the only one, by the way, who has been excelling in the triathlon this summer. Polly Jansen, Chris Verry and Matt Mauren have been signing up for everything triathlon they can the last two months, and they have been doing great!
