MTS



Dry for now, Ellen helps Mom (Anna) get ready for the race.

Anna is anxious to get this race started with her section, the 23-mile mountain bike course from Hyak to Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend.

The race starts with a half-mile run to the bikes. This was done so that racers wouldn't be too bunched up when they went through the mile-long tunnel.

Anna mounts her bike at a run, trying to get a good position going into the tunnel.

Tired, wet, and muddy but glad to be done, Anna finished 6th in our division, getting Team Miscellaneous off to a great start. She did the 23 miles in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 15 seconds.

Mel rode her bike 50 miles from Rattlesnake Lake to Redmond in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 10 seconds, taking 7th in our division. She contended with wet roads and road construction between Snoqualmie and Fall City. The day before, she rode in another race. Mel's narrative for the MTS can be found in "A Little Race With That Lettuce?"
When she finished John grabbed her hand and pulled her to his kayak so she could help him carry it to the water. She had nothing left in her legs.

Mel held onto the kayak and signaled John that it was secure enough to climb in and begin his paddle. They couldn't chance tipping the kayak and wasting time getting the water out. The kayaker with the red number is an Iron Man. The Iron Men and Women did the entire 100 miles.

Mel almost launched herself into the water as she pushed John's kayak off the step.

It's good to be done. Time for Mel to freshen up and then head for John's finish.

John begins his 12.5 mile paddle from Redmond to Kenmore. His goal was to break 2:20 and his offical time was 2:20:30.

John chased number 188 much of the first six miles.

Once John turned the corner at the pier, the wind pushed him to the beach at Log boom Park in Kenmore. The wind tipped five kayakers as they made the final one half mile paddle across the Lake Washington to the transition with the half marathoner.

John gives it all he has left, running toward Aiden.

John touches off to Aiden who begins his half-marathon run from Kenmore to Gas Works park in Seattle. Aiden was our ringer.

As soon as he made the transition with Aiden, John collasped in exhaustion.

As John collapses, his support team of Anna, Little Ellen, Mel, Charlie, Carson, John, and Lisa come to his aid, pulling off his wet clothes and giving him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and water.

Aiden approaches his finish along the Burke-Gilman Trail, which is crowded with the usual Sunday users.

Aiden nears the finish line of his half-marathon leg of the relay and the fourth segment out of five.

Aiden finishes ahead of #188 after making up nine minutes and catching him and then dueling with him near the end of the 13.2 mile leg. If you look back at the photo of John and Mel positioning the kayak for launch, you will see a kayaker with a gray kayak putting his boat into the water and his marathon runner (#188) is next to him. That kayaker started the same time as John did but finished nine minutes sooner. Aiden made up those nine minutes positioning Team Misc. to finish 12th overall in the race.

Aiden makes a clean touch-off with Ellen.

Aiden finished the 13.2 miles in 1:21:52 placing second in the Open Coed division and fourth overall. Ellen begins her sprint to Golden Gardens which is six miles down the Burke-Gilman trail.

Ellen pushes off hard and fast to begin her 6 mile sprint to the finish line at Golden Gardens.

Ellen is running hard at the end of her leg in order to preserve the team's position.

Ellen got a personal best for her leg, finishing in 42:23. She didn't let anyone pass her, and passed a woman along the way. Anna started the 100 mile relay at 8:00 am and Ellen finished the relay at 3:31pm.

Team Miscellaneous happily groups up near the finish line: John, Ellen, Mel, Aiden, Anna, and Little Ellen (Anna's daughter). They finished second in their Open Coed Division and 12th overall out of 192 teams. Our hats are off to Brian Ecker who competed in the Open Iron Man's Division and finished the 100 mile course in 7 hours, 27 minutes, and 10 seconds, beating our combined efforts by four minutes!

Team Miscellaneous receives pins for their second-place finish, soon to be followed by medallions in the mail.

Team members sign the captain's T-shirt as they wait for the final results of the race. Team Miscellaneous would like to thank the photographers, Rolly, Ken, Mel, John S., and Charlie.