Top placed participants in the wvent pose with their winnings.
Photo by Daniel Waffenfeld
This year’s 6th annual Indoor Triathlon was held at Montclair State’s Recreation Center on Feb. 26. Twenty-two student competitors of all different grades and majors came out to show their support and compete against one another.
The three-event competition included biking, swimming and running in a time-based system. The biking was performed on stationary equipment. The swimming took place in the pools and the running was held on the treadmills. Biking and swimming competitions took place in thirty minute intervals while running took place for fifteen minutes involving whoever could travel in the total farthest distance in that time frame. The best scores were tallied and later added in an overall scale which would be used in the final results.
Recreation Center Director Romayne Eaker-Kelly said, “we’ve done it a number of years now, but our goal is to continue to grow in members and attempt to get as many participants as possible in the future.”
This year’s male and female overall triathlon winners were William Baunach and Alyssa Petitdemange. Although they did not win each individual competition, their overall scores were higher than everyone else’s. Baunach described the event as “a fun experience, especially participating for the third time at this event. It was nice meeting new people and putting all my hard work into action.”
Almost every participant had a routine in order to properly prepare for the event. Baunach explained that his routine was, “a strict six day workout, which includes swimming, running on the track and doing as much cardio outside as possible.”
Many student recreation center employees have helped out in the past and have also volunteered to make sure that this event continues as a future tradition for Montclair State. Stephen Blazejewski, a student employee at the recreation center, has helped run the event for the past four years. Blazejewski described the event as, “a wonderful experience to see people be so active and enjoy using our facility. We love when students get involved here and participate in fun events. My favorite part is watching the participants at the end complete all three events and the sense of accomplishment they reach.”
Elizabeth Aucello was the top female swimmer of the day and it was her first time competing in the triathlon. Aucello said, “I didn’t expect to end up as one of the top athletes but I’m glad I came out for this event and I really enjoyed my time today.”
“I would definitely come back and compete next year. I’ll definitely prepare myself more for the competitions so I am ready for my opponents,” Aucello added.
