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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 08.06.09 edition.
Triathlon qualifiers head to
World Championships
By Marshall Smith, Staff
Reporter
Three locals qualified for triathlon world
championships at Australia’s Gold Coast Sept. 9 through 13. Two are
going.
Brad Rechtfertig, Lee Piche and Bill Whitman qualified for the swim,
bike and running competition to be held at the Southport Broadwater
Parklands in Queensland, Australia. Piche, 52, and Whitman, 46, are
going. Rechtfertig, 35, said for him it was not a good time to take a
vacation.
Although given the challenge of the events in which each would compete,
some might not see the time “Down Under” as a vacation.
Piche will compete in the Olympic distance triathlon event on Sept. 12
— an arduous 1.5-meter swim, a 40-kilometer bike race, and a
10-kilometer foot race.
Whitman will compete in a sprint triathlon — an 800-meter swim, a
20-kilometer bike race and a 5-kilometer foot race. “It’s all out,”
said Whitman. “If you let up, you’re going to get passed.” “It’s very
competitive,” said Piche.
Responding to the question of what makes a triathlon so personally
compelling, Rechtfertig said, “It’s not a hobby or a sport. It’s really
a lifestyle. You have to get a mindset that everything you do
throughout the day will either make you faster or slower.”
Rechtfertig said he didn’t compete in high school or college sports for
the most part. “I started running as part of police academy fitness.
I’ve always mountain biked. I tried triathlon once and I was hooked.”
Piche said he saw Ironman (a long-established and particularly
strenuous triathlon that began as a challenge between a group of Navy
Seals) in 1981. “I was not a swimmer,” said Piche. “I was afraid of
competing in a swim race. I took swimming lessons. Then as soon as I
could swim 500 yards, I entered my first triathlon.”
“I was a runner traditionally,” said Whitman. “Friends were doing
biathlons. It was a natural progression to get into the water. Once I
was in the water, I was hooked on triathlons.”
Australia’s Gold Coast is 80 kilometers from Brisbane, Queensland’s
capital city, and about 370 kilometers from the Great Barrier Reef, a
destination Piche intends to visit with his fiancée who will
accompany him on his Australia trip.
The 2009 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Grand Finals
begin Sept. 9 with an ITU Acquathon World Championships, followed by a
Sept. 10 Parade of Nation Competitors, and then, on subsequent days,
the events in which both Piche and Whitman will compete. Sprint medal
presentations (Whitman’s race) and Olympic Distance medal presentations
(Piche’s race) will take place Sunday, Sept. 13.
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