Sports

Moose, black bears and mouse turn out for Moose Nugget Triathlon

Moose, bears and even a mouse showed up Sunday for the Moose Nugget Triathlon. Some athletes were there too.

Racing a course that started at Jewel Lake and finished at Kincaid Park, Jason Lamoreaux and Joanne Allen registered decisive victories in the Olympic-length triathlon.

Mazzy Jackson claimed the overall victory in the sprint triathlon, beating the top man by two seconds.

Jackson, a recent Grace Christian graduate, completed the 800-yard swim, 15-mile bike and 5-kilometer run in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 56 seconds. Men’s winner Michael Vania was second overall in 1:19:58.

Racers reported seeing moose and black bears during the race. Natasha Graham, who competed in the shorter race, said she saw two of each, including a big bull standing in the middle of a downed tree across the trail.

He was “chomping away on the branches,” she said. ”He didn’t care about us.”

Lamoreaux, who clocked 2:05:19 to win the longer race (1,500-meter swim, 40K bike and 10K run), said he didn’t spot as much wildlife as others but he was keen enough to spot much smaller critter.

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“I didn’t see any bears and I only saw one moose, but I did see a mouse,” he said.

Lamoreaux used his biking talents to take the lead after trailing four or five swimmers out of the lake. He did the 40K in 1:01:58, about seven minutes faster than second-place Mick Bakker and more than 10 minutes faster than third-place Todd Jackson. Bakker’s finial time was 2:11:53, Jackson’s was 2:16:54.

Allen also grabbed command during the 40K bike en route to a five-minute women’s victory. She finished in 2:43:22, followed by Anna Rix (2:48:40) and Katera Seybert (2:58:09).

Mazzy Jackson got off to a fast start in the shorter race by doing the 800 meters in 10:06, faster than anyone else. Rounding out the top three in the women’s race were Pam Winders (1:24:55) and Morgan Aldridge (1:31:32).

Joining Vania in the top three of the men’s division were Niall Linden (1:22:57) and Jack Bent (1:33:00).

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