Over the Mountain Triathlon 2010

The Over The Mountain Triathlon is an annual event where the swim is in Moss Lake, the ride heads toward Kings Mountain, and the run goes back out from Kings Mountain. Since we got boats, I've wanted to help out with this event. The email arrived Thursday afternoon saying they needed more on-the-water volunteers. It was the first I heard about it, but fortunately I had no plans. While Kathleen was preparing for the Certified Pool Operation exam, I paddled toward the public access where the swim starts.

With minimal instruction and none of the promised equipment (flotation device & whistle), I was back out on the water and headed towards another pair of paddlers that were positioned at about the halfway point. The swim course was a 7 facing down for 1.5 km. At 8am, the horn blew for the lead group to start. The leaders tore up that distance. At intervals, trailing groups started. No one became distressed or needed anything to hold on to. Several swimmers got off course. Some more so than others. One boat was orange, as were the course markers, which caused at least one person to cut the corner, lose time, and add distance before getting re-oriented. The last person out of the water had a regular flotilla escort as all the boats along the course trailed in behind him.

Here are the leaders going past me (with a path buoy way in the background) and the finish line with a lady just out of the water and a blue-capped person still in the water but approaching boat ramp.