Lake Metroparks Fairport Harbor Pirate Triathlon Review

I competed in the Lake Metroparks Pirate Triathlon many times over the years.  This year everything just clicked today and I was the overall winner of the kayak triathlon! This was the first time I have been the overall winner of a triathlon.

The race starts with a 2K kayak on Lake Erie. Kayaking was rough. We got tossed around in the wind and waves. I got off to a slow start but finished strong being the first kayak out of the water. My 20K bike leg was strong and I was the first biker into transition. My 5K run felt smooth and efficient and I crossed the finish line in 1:21:29 winning by about 2 minutes. My finish time was just a few seconds off of last year’s finish time.

It was a little disappointing to see such a small race field this year in the kayak triathlon with 32 participants. The swim triathlon had 260 entries. There was a large competing kayak race and Ohio Ironman 70.3 this weekend that I’m sure spread out racers.

All participants received custom pirate themed tech shirts and finisher medals.  A selection of cut fruit, cookies, salty snacks, and Gatorade was available post race.  Lake Metroparks does a really nice job organizer their events and this race was no exception.   I do think the awards could be better managed.  They always offer a first place overall award  no second or third place overall awards and then age group awards every 10 years.  I would prefer that they present awards for the top three overall male and female finishers.  This year they combined age groups every 19 years because of the low registration numbers in the kayak triathlon.  The overall male and overall female winners of the kayak triathlon received two trophies.  We each received an overall winner trophy and and age group winner trophy.  Most races do not include overall winners in age divisions and I would prefer to see this race follow that format and spread the awards around more.  Thank you to Lake Metroparks and all of the volunteers for putting on a great race!