Cape Athletes Train for Town’s First Triathlon

Early Sunday morning, September 25, a full field of athletes will line up for Cape Elizabeth’s first-ever triathlon.

The Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge Sprint Triathlon starts at Cape Elizabeth High School with a 425-yard pool swim, followed by a 10-mile bike ride and ending with a three-mile trail run.

Individual athletes and teams of athletes combining talents will try to complete the short triathlon course in the shortest period of time. The triathlon will be followed by a children’s duathlon consisting of a 125-yard pool swim and a 1-mile track run.

“While we still have space for young athletes in the children’s duathlon,” said Chris Franklin, the executive director of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust and the organizer of the event, “the triathlon has completely sold out.” The triathlon field consists of 113 individuals and 12 teams of athletes who will race different components of the triathlon. Ages range from 12 to 65, with athletes from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Of the 148 participants signed up for the triathlon, more than 80 are from Cape Elizabeth.

Gail Osgood is one of those Cape athletes. Describing herself as a “recreational triathlete,” Osgood, 45, has competed in a half dozen or more triathlons over the past two years. Most recently, she competed in the Kennebunk triathlon in August.

“I do triathlons for recreational purposes, to stay in shape and cross-train all of the different muscle groups,” said Osgood, who will compete with teammate A.J. Hungerford. “Due to a back injury, I can no longer run competitively. I will do the swim and the bike, and AJ will do the trail run.”

Osgood trains between 5 and 6 days per week, alternating between swimming and biking. Her training typically consists of a mile long swim and a 26+ mile bike ride. “Mostly, I swim indoors, but once a week during the summer, my friends and I swim for a mile in the open waters at Crystal Lake in Gray,” Osgood said.

Osgood expects to complete the swim in less than 7 minutes, the bike ride in 30 minutes or less, but she isn’t sure how long AJ will take to do the trail run. “The real key is the time spent in transitions,” claims Osgood, referring to the time it takes an athlete to transition from one leg of the triathlon to the next. “You can’t be ‘pokey’ there.” Osgood wears a special triathlon suit for the entire race, which helps speed the time it takes to transition from the swim to the bike.

Osgood and Hungerford are the only team of two competing in the Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge. The 11 other teams consist of three athletes, each one competing in a different leg of the three-legged event.

The “Three Warriors” team of Maggie Darling, Gabriel Loring and Rosie Wennberg, all 14, is one of three-person teams competing in the event. Darling, Loring and Wennberg played lacrosse together this summer for the Maine Select team. “We were the only three girls from Cape Elizabeth playing on the team,” says Loring. When Loring’s mom saw the Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge announced in the paper, she suggested that the three of them sign up. In forming their team, they decided to take the name of a lacrosse company known as ‘Warriors.’

“We’re hardcore athletes looking for a new challenge,” claims Wennberg, half serious, half joking. Like her teammates, Wennberg will be competing in her first-ever triathlon. She’s leading off for the Three Warriors with the 425-yard pool swim. “I have been swimming competitively since I was six,” says Wennberg, who swims on the Cape Elizabeth High School swim team. “I mostly do 50s, 100s and 200s, so this will be a bit of a stretch for me.” Still, the 14-year old expects to complete the 425-yard race in about 5:30.

With a swim time like that, the Warriors are likely to be off to a strong start coming out of the pool, when Maggie Darling will take over for the bike ride. Darling plays soccer and lacrosse, but doesn’t do a lot of biking. “I’ve put in about six miles on the bike so far,” laughs Darling, “but I’m in pretty good shape.” Playing soccer three times a day in early-season high school play doesn’t leave Darling a lot of time for biking. She recently competed in the Beach to Beacon road race and finished in less than 62 minutes. “My aerobic condition is pretty good,” Darling claims. “I should be able to complete the ride in under an hour, I guess. We’re going to kick butt!”

Gabriel Loring, a speedster on the J.V. Soccer team, will try to close any gap that might develop once Darling finishes the bike ride. Loring ran indoor track in middle school, plays soccer and lacrosse and did some trail running when she was on the Nordic ski team. “If I had trained for the trail run, I could probably complete the course in about 24 minutes,” says Loring, who, like Darling, has not had much time to train for this specific event. “I think we’re going to do relatively well, but we’re just looking forward to the athletic event and cheering on our other teammates.”

Competing as an individual triathlete, Joni Hewitt, 49, did her first triathlon two years ago at the Danskin women’s triathlon in Massachusetts, and she has done the Iron Bear in Brunswick the past two seasons. Hewitt is excited about competing in the Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge. “I heard about it in the spring, and as soon as the event was posted on Active.com, I signed up,” says Joni. “I immediately called some of my friends and encouraged them to sign up, too.”

Hewitt is often seen in the early morning hours in Cape Elizabeth running with a group of her friends. “We typically run 5 times a week and swim once a week, but in training for the triathlon, I have been running a little less and swimming and biking more often.”

Hewitt plans to do a trial run of the full course prior to the actual event. “I like to run through the course at least once,” relates Joni. “For me, competing in a triathlon is about consistency, having a good time and doing it in such a way that I can continue doing it. By setting a goal, I am inspired to get up and do it.”

Chris Franlin at the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust is delighted by the early support for the Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge commemorating the Land Trust’s 20th anniversary. “We envisioned a family-friendly event that would involve as many people in the community as possible,” relates Chris Franklin, executive director of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust. “We are so pleased that so many athletes from Cape Elizabeth have signed up for the triathlon. We hope the rest of the town will show up to cheer on the athletes and join us afterwards at the Harvest Festival, community barbecue and awards ceremony at Gull Crest.”

The Blake Hall & Allen CELT Challenge is immediately followed by the CELT/Rand Stonework’s Harvest Festival at the Gull Crest fields in Cape Elizabeth. The Festival features live music, a community barbecue, a harvest market featuring locally grown flowers and produce and many activities for families and children. The Harvest Festival is open to the public.

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