Wanderers Display Nerves of Steel at Memorial Day Weekend Triathlon

By Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain

In true Wanderer style, 3 Wanderers competed in the 4th annual Got the Nerve triathlon on Saturday, May 26th in the beautiful, rolling countryside of Mt. Gretna, PA. It was a warm day but fun was had by the competitors as they swam 500 yds., biked 14.8 miles, and ran a 5k to kick off the summer season. Although there was no team competition, Wanderers had a strong showing with Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain winning first overall for the women and Polly Jensen winning third in her age group. Chris Verry had a strong finish, placing 15th in his age group but 16th overall in the run. While an open water swim always prove to be a challenge even for the relaxed, Wanderers made it out of the water in okay shape. At least the water was a moderate temperature this year!

If the refreshing swim wasn't enough to wake everyone up, then the first hill-climb on the bike, less than a quarter of a mile into the course, was enough to get the heartrate elevated. At least there was some fun after the three-quarters of a mile steep climb, as bikers could easily achieve speeds of over 40 mph as they came down the other side of the hill. I think everyone was quite happy that the farmers decided to manure the fields the day before; there's nothing like taking a deep breath of manure-fresh air when trying to fill the lungs! Chris Verry is pretty sure he heard, "Pedal Chris, Pedal!" along the bike course but Polly and Sharon are wondering if he was hallucinating because they only saw cows and sheep. Polly summed up the end of the race beautifully, "It's always fun finishing with our strongest event, and passing people who passed us earlier in the race!"

Sharon (mdl) picks up her award...

... as did Polly (r)

<- go to the last page  |  old news reports (pre 2008) »  |  current news »