2025 Headwaters Adventure Race Review

I had a challenging race today at the Headwaters Adventure Triathlon.  Between training and soccer I overdid it the week before the race and toed the start line with extremely tight hips and posterior chain muscles.  My 2 mile run was a struggle but not terrible. I started my GPS watch early so I was running blind not knowing my pace.  I finished the run in 13th place. My struggles continued on the hilly 10 mile bike course placing me 15th heading into the transition to the kayak leg.  I was feeling pretty defeated but then I started making up ground thanks to my Stellar Kayaks SR Multisport.  The 1st mile of the 5 mile kayak leg was a little slow as I navigated tight lines passing several slower kayakers.  Each mile I passed more kayakers and by mile 3 I was in 7th place and back in the race. I found another gear catching and passing a few more kayakers finally making it to the finish line placing 3rd overall with a time of 1:50:12.  I actually would have beaten last year’s time had I not got hung up about 100 meters from the finish which cost me about a minute.  I had the fastest kayak leg split in today’s race which gives me confidence for my next race.  

All participants received nice t-shirts, bottle opener finisher medals, and some sponsor goodies.   There were plenty of snacks for finishers after the race.  I would like to see the race offer more age divisions and or provide more awards for division winners.  The age divisions are every 10 years and awards are presented only to first place division winners.  If they continue with 10 year age divisions they should at least present the top 3 finishers in each division with awards.

Thank you the Kristi Kato, the Portage Park District Foundation, and all of the volunteers who worked hard to put on a great race today.