This is the second of three racing pieces I am writing for the month of September. After a long, fun season of summer multi-sport racing, it was time to actually get some collegiate competition on the radar. For the weekend of September 9-11th, the Triathlon Club at MSU headed out to Sweet Home, Oregon to race in the Best In The West Triathlon Festival. This two-day event surrounded by green forested hills features a race for pretty much every conceivable distance imagined. There was a Sprint Distance, Olympic Distance, Half-Ironman, Try-A-Tri (for beginners), Splash and Dash (for kids), Aquabike, Duathlon, etc. Our objective as a club was to do the Olympic Distance, as it was also the USAT Northwest Collegiate Conference Championships, and the qualifying race for Collegiate Nationals.

While the triathlon club has 15-20 fairly active athletes, only 4 of us and our coach made the trek. As the drive would take roughly 13 hours, we left Bozeman at 6 am Friday, September 9th in order to make it to the venue with daylight remaining. Once our first car arrived in Sweet Home, we set up a campsite a short bike from the start/finish area so car #2 (arriving at 5 am Saturday morning) would have an established site to find.

Saturday: Course previews, packet pickup, general socializing and cheering on Half-Ironman and Sprint finishers. There was also a big pasta dinner for collegiate athletes Saturday evening.

Sunday: Arrived at transition set-up an hour before the 8:30 am start time. While the Northwest Conference isn't considered very deep or fast, there were plenty of schools represented: Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State, Montana and Montana State. Two MSU athletes were also coming in considered favorites for podium spots.

Swim: This may have been my worst swim performance to date. Early on another athlete accidentally knocked my goggles off mid-swim and I had to fumble around for a moment trying to find them. That delay drastically reduced my momentum and I wound up getting passed by later race waves to get pushed further and further back. I came out of the water behind almost all of the collegiate racers from both genders. 1500 meter swim in 31 min:32 seconds

T1: I was a bit disoriented and had some trouble getting my bike gear on while also stumbling around my rack location, and while riding onto the road I tipped over the curb, landing on the ground sideways and scratching up my pedal. Luckily those were minor obstacles in the way of an otherwise productive ride, as it's usually smooth after getting on the main road. T1 time: 1:40

Bike: I have a tendency to catch stragglers while biking, and this race was no exception making up plenty of lost ground throughout the out and back course. It was a much more challenging bike course than what I was accustomed to, with a downhill going out and uphill coming back (along with all the smaller hills in-between). However, I was able to fight my way through while passing other riders one by one to slowly gain a better position. This wasn't quite my fastest bike split, but it came close to a slightly faster one from an easier course. 40 km bike in 1:12:26.

T2: My trouble in T2 was getting run shoes on when my sole kept crumpling up in the front of the shoe and briefly mixing up what side of the rack to hang my bike up in; those were major time eaters. Aside from that, no major delays. T2: 1:41

Run: I'm not sure how I ran like I did, but all the mile repeat workouts and interval runs leading up to this day must have paid off somehow. I was able to take advantage of a very hilly course to use to my advantage and pass other runners with what seemed like relative ease, except I was giving everything I had. Strong strides, and a motivation like no other had me finishing with a run PR that finally pushed me into the upper half of the final results. 10 km run in 40:53.

All in all, MSU had a good showing. Sally Slipher proved she still has some serious power as a grad student, especially with a very impressive swim. Freshman Virginia Beineke broke the previous swim record (along with Griz Erika Ackerlund, female champion) and held on for 4th and a podium in her first ever olympic distance. MSU club president and World Championship qualifier Nick Dorsett upset both the defending champion and another heavy favorite to win the Northwest Conference title, setting a new course record in the process. I managed to move up after my less-than stellar swim to take 11th, barely in the upper-half of male results.

The drive back to Bozeman would last into early monday morning, when we arrived back at 4 am.

Next hopeful official stop, USAT Collegiate Club Championships in Tuscaloosa, Alabama!