TriFest for MS Weekend

This past weekend I had the privilege of racing in the TriFest for MS F1 event.  It was a stellar weekend of racing supporting Jo & Scott Rampy and their foundation, Research MS.  It was a three day celebration of good health, triathlon, family and community.  It also allowed me to spend the weekend with the Owen family who operate SkinStrong.

I had been looking forward to this race for quite some time and the swim-bike-swim-run format did not disappoint!  Both swims were done in a 50m pool which added another twist to the race with four professional men and two professional woman competing.  The distances were 800m swim – 40k bike- 700m swim – 10k run.  I crossed the line in fourth with a time of 2:05.

While it was a small pro field it made for some competitive racing.   Highlights of the weekend included the following:

• going to daily Mass Friday morning with Chandi and her kids for their school Mass
• Friday autograph signing/meet & greet with local athletes
• Saturday sprint race to cheer on Team SkinStrong (Stephanie, John & Chandi) who took 1st in their division
• Sunday kids’ race & Super Sprint – so fun to watch the three youngest Owen children get after it as well as John & professional Angi Axmann (she flatted out of the F1 race) – John & Angi took the overall wins 🙂
• loads of laughs with the Owens & Angi – aka “the German”
• meeting Gordon Haller, winner of the 1st Ironman
• swimming 700m after biking a hard 40k
• meeting all the local athletes & friends of SkinStrong
• riding the Branson 70.3 course with my friend Patti
• testing some prototype swim pacing equipment – very cool stuff – imagine following a strip of green lights on the bottom of a pool which is set to any pace
• pre-race bike with Angi, Hannah & John
• enjoying good food & great company throughout the weekend with Angi & the Owens

Throughout the weekend I was really impressed with the sense of support and encouragement from the community.  It was so cool to see everyone embrace the weekend and really get behind Jo & Scott with their efforts.  I am very grateful for the support of my sponsors who allow me to travel and compete at such fun events.

Keep it smooth,

Brad