As if the gusts of air hitting her face didn’t tell her enough, a check of her bike speed told Jenna Blanton all she needed to know about how hard the wind was blowing during Sunday’s Emporia Spring Migration Triathlon.
Whenever Blanton had the wind at her back, her speed on her bike got up past 20 miles per hour. Headed into the wind, she slowed to around 8 mph.
Not quite the best of conditions for a first-time triathlete.
“I knew going out that I was going to have to let the wind push me, and on the way back in, I was going to have to get real low and do by best at working my way back in,” said Blanton, a 2006 graduate of Emporia High. “It was pretty tough.”
The wind was not enough to keep Blanton from turning in what she considered to be a successful first go-round with a triathlon. Blanton finished 14th in the female division, completing the three-part competition that consisted of a 400-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike ride and a 5K run in 1 hour, 28 minutes and 29 seconds.
“I felt really good actually,” said Blanton, who plans to continue competing in triathlons. “I didn’t really know what to expect. I tried to pace myself, and that ended up leaving me enough energy for the run. I felt strong on the run.”
In a field of 105 total finishers, Lyn Morris of Hutchinson was the top female finisher overall with a time of 1:11:19, while Michael White of Salina won the male division in 1:03:13.
Sydney Wigger finished sixth to claim the top Emporia female time (1:18:29), and Sam Tovar placed 40th in the men’s division (1:18:39) to finish as the top Emporia male.
The first athlete to actually cross the finish line was Taylor Anderson of Manhattan.
Anderson finished well before any other contestant, so much so that with about 50 meters before the end of the race, Anderson’s son, Sean, came out to run hand-in-hand with him down the final stretch. Anderson actually ended up taking second overall by 34 seconds.
Afterward, Anderson said he felt good throughout the entire race, except for the times he had to run into the wind, which was gusting up to 30 miles per hour.
“I felt better than I thought I was going to,” said Anderson, who has only missed one Spring Migration Triathlon in 15 years. “That wind was a little brutal ... but it was great weather, and the temperature was good. I had a good day.”
Other top Emporia finishers, in the women’s division, were: Debra Oden in 15th (1:30:39) and Catherine Ohlemeier in 21st (1:38:05). In the men’s division, the other top Emporia finishers were: Jeff Schelling in 54th (1:23:04), Craig Barnwell in 65th (1:40:04) and Josh Reynolds in 71st (1:48:33).
It was the 15th running of the Spring Migration Triathlon, which is put on by the Emporia Track Club.