High Falls Sprint Triathlon

Written by Melissa Earley

I arrived at High Falls State Park looking forward to a fun, fast race.  I arrived in plenty of time to set up my spot in transition and head to the water for a quick warm-up.  The water was calm and the temperature was comfortable.  The swim start is an age group wave start.  I had a good swim, finishing in 11:13.  The swim exit was a little muddy, but it was only a short run to T1. 

 I headed out onto the bike, which I found to be fast course.  The course had rolling hills but nothing too major.  The course was well marked with plenty of signs and volunteers to let you know where to go.  I felt like I kept a steady pace on the bike, finishing the 13.4 mile course in 38:20. 

 I quickly got on my running shoes and headed out of T2.  At this point, I knew I was the third woman overall.  The run course had a couple of small hills and one large hill at the turn around halfway through the run.  I was running as fast as I could, but Yvonne Bedell blew by me around mile 1.  I was able to gain ground on one other racer to retake third place just after the turn around.  I finished the run in 22:13.  Overall, I finished the race in 1:13:40 and was third female overall.     

 This was a fun race.  It is well organized with great volunteers.  It’s definitely a race that I would recommend to first time triathletes/diathletes, as well as more experienced racers.�