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Jason Lamoreaux works for the State of Alaska in the Department of Transportation, but when it comes to the Hammerman Triathlon, he’s become an expert at propelling himself through the course.
The 43-year-old continued his string of dominance Saturday by winning the event for the third year in a row after years of second-place finishes. The annual Triathlon and Duathlon took place for the 21st time over the weekend at Campbell Lake near the entrance to Kincaid Park.
The swimming portion is in the lake, the bike portion does a loop utilizing a mixture of different trails at the park and the run is a smaller loop near the lake.
Lamoreaux has been a co-director of the event for the past decade and participant for the last 15 years. He says there are advantages and disadvantages to being an organizer as well as a competitor.
“I do get an opportunity to see the course more than most people because we provide course previews where we take people out, show them around the course and talk through the whole event before the race so they are comfortable with it,” Lamoreaux said.
While that gives him good experience on how to navigate the course and get a look at his prospective competition, he admits that the stress and time it takes to organize the event takes away from the amount of time he can devote to training for it.
“It wears on you, the stress and the effort that you put into putting on the race and organizing the race that takes away some of your energy and focus on the participation,” Lamoreaux said.
Nevertheless, he still managed to finish four minutes, three seconds ahead of second place finisher Corbyn Jahn. Lamoreaux said for him, the most challenging leg of the race was the running portion.
“The swim used to be my most challenging aspect but for this event, the swim was pretty straight forward,” he said. “It’s only 800 yards so it’s not a super long swim.”
He said the biking portion is his “specialty” and where he distanced himself from the rest of the pack before the run.
“It’s a very challenging course and very hard to get a good rhythm going,” Lamoreaux. “There’s a lot of uphill and downhill that breaks up your flow.”
The socialization is his favorite aspect of taking part in this event and others of its ilk.
“The best part about this race particularly is being around all the people,” Lamoreaux said. “Everybody is out there to have fun and just enjoy the day. There’s no money on the line, there’s no big awards so it’s mostly just for the fun of good competition.”
Allison Arians won the individual triathlon for the women, her brother Ben Arians won the men’s duathlon and Morgan Aldridge won the women’s duathlon.
Anchorage’s Grayson Davey finishes first in trapshooting event
Anchorage’s Grayson Davey, 21, took first place at the 2022 US Grand Prix at the Keystone Shooting Park in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, last week. In addition to a gold medal, he was rewarded with a Breitling Navitimer Chronograph GMT luxury watch with an estimated value of $31,000.
Trapshooting is an event in the Summer Olympics where shooters fire at targets called clays that are thrown in front of them from five different positions. Davey also won the 2 Man Team event with Logan Lucas.
Davey competes with the USA Army Marksman Unit and is stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia. He is a Junior Olympian whose other career accomplishments include helping the U.S. Trap Team to a fourth-place finish at the 2021 Lima Junior World Cup.
Maia Struble receives rare All-America honor in bowling
Only five boys and five girls from around the country are selected for the Dexter USBC High School All-American team each year. Dimond High’s Maia Struble was announced as one of the select few for 2022 and will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the United States Bowling Congress.
The honorees are selected based not only for their excellence on the lanes but also for their academic achievements, letters of recommendation as well as extracurricular and community involvement. She is the first Alaskan to receive this elite recognition which has been awarded annually since 2005-2006. The entire team will be celebrated this week at the Junior Gold Championships Opening Ceremony in Grand Rapids, Michigan.