Survive the Night Triathlon Relay Report

On June 12-13th six of us participated on a team for the first annual Survive the Night Triathlon.  This was a nice local option since the 27 Hour Triathlon was no longer being held.   Jonathan Feddock was the race director - he took on an amazing project as his first foray into race directing.  This event is an extension of his Ironcology effort he started last year in an effort to raise money for the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky.

This event was well timed with Steve's recovery from rectal cancer earlier this year.  We put together a team named - Team Steve - Get It Caught with your Pants Down.  The It being colon/rectal cancer :-)

The event included a 4000 meter swim, 108 mile bike & a 26.6 mile run.

Team Steve = Shannon, Audrey, Me, Steve, Becky & Ruth

The event started at 7PM at Spindletop with the swim.  Everyone but Steve swam so we each did 800 meters.  We had to submit our swim & bike estimates prior to the event.  I was pretty impressed how close we hit our splits.

Becky swimming into the sunset

The bike portion was at the Kentucky Horse Park so that meant about a 2 mile transition run.  Since Steve wasn't swimming he was our transition runner.

Steve ready to run to the Horse Park

The bike portion was a 4.5 mile loop entirely inside the Horse Park.  Everyone on our team did 4 laps or about 18 miles on the bike.  This was probably the oddest/coolest portion of the event.  It was dark by the time we started our riding which meant we needed headlights & tail lights for our bikes.  They did have some lighting on the course but there were still some really dark areas.  Plus the transition from bright light to darkness was really hard on the eyes.

Handoff from Audrey to me

Handoff from me to Steve

Handoff from Steve to Ruth

Handoff Ruth to Shannon

Handoff Shannon to Becky

It took us most of the night to finish the 108 miles.  I think somewhere around 4AM Becky started the run portion of the race.  The run was a huge loop throughout the area countryside with various mileage segments.

We split the group into 2 teams of 3 to meet each runner at the various handoffs.  Becky, Audrey & Shannon were in the first group.  Ruth, Steve & me were in the second group.  The run segments varied from 3 miles to 7 miles.

Shannon finishing her 7 mile leg

Ruth finished her 5 miles & I am about to begin my 4 mile leg

The view along my run

Steve is super excited to run us in to the finish

Team Steve at the Finish

Our finish time for 140.7 miles was 14 hours 32 minutes.  

Overall, for a first time event, it was awesome.  I really liked how the money raised went to our local cancer center.  Most folks have been impacted by cancer so the cause resonates with everyone.   The race director knows what he needs to improve for next year & has already communicated his thoughts on what went well & what didn't which I think is pretty awesome.  I am hoping next year will be fully contained in the Horse Park.  That would be so much easier from a logistics stand point. 

The weather was perfect for this race which is actually surprising in hindsight since we have had a crap ton of rain this summer!  

T-shirt & the medal 

Front

Back

Team Steve - Cancer Survivor Award
L-R Steve, me & Ruth (also a cancer survivor)