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Triathlon
team tries to repeat championship
By
Jesse Munoz
Daily Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
On
a campus where baseball, softball and women's
volleyball usually garner all the accolades
and most of the press attention, the Cal
State Long Beach triathlon team is making
some noise and gaining some prestige of
its own.
As
the 2004-2005 triathlon season gets underway
this weekend, the 49ers will be sending
an accomplished team of tri-athletes to
compete in the Wisconsin Ironman Collegiate
Championships. Held in Madison, Wis., on
September 12, the CSULB team will compete,
as well as defend their 2003 Wisconsin Ironman
Collegiate Mixed team championship.
The
race is one of only five of its kind in
all of North America and is considered one
of the most intense and physically grueling
athletic endeavors in the world. "We're
definitely looking to repeat this year,"
said 20-year-old art major and returning
member of last years championship team,
Jordan Haggard. "It's a big deal just
to finish the race, but we all have individual
time goals as well."
Haggard,
senior Julie Hoppe and former student Dave
Macayon formed the team that was in the
collegiate division last year. With Hoppe
and Haggard anchoring an ironman team that
includes Matt Seward, Joel Fitzpatrick and
Derek DeCicco, opportunity for the 49ers
repeat attempt at a championship looks very
strong.
Despite
a strong team, potential heartbreak is looming
in the early season as star team member
and triathlon club President Julie Hoppe
has been experiencing symptoms of a potential
leg injury and is due to undergo an MRI
this week.
"We
just hope its nothing muscular, maybe just
really bad shin splints,""Hoppe
said. An injury so close to race weekend
would be devastating, and would probably
force Hoppe to have to"withdraw. "I'm
just trying to stay positive."
The
mental and physical endeavor that comes
with any Ironman competition is difficult
to complete on even two good legs. Of the
1,800 participants in last year's event,
more than 300 tri-athletes were unable to
complete the event, which is recognized
throughout the world as the ultimate endurance
test.
"They
say that during the race a person will burn
between 8,000 and 11,000 calories,"
Haggard said. "You basically just have
to eat all day just to keep your energy
up."
When
asked about dieting techniques that the
athletes use in preparation for such an
event, Hoppe said it is important to maintain
a high energy diet. "Yeah it was crazy,
last year Jordan weighed himself after the
race and had lost ten pounds," she
said.
Both
Hoppe and Haggard had strong swimming backgrounds
and were attracted to the triathlon team
when they started school at CSULB. Both
have made a name for themselves as two of
the best tri-athletes in not only the state,
but the world as well.
Last
summer, both Hoppe and Haggard traveled
to Sweden to participate in the World Triathlon
Championship and competed against athletes
from 29 countries. Hoppe finished third
in the individual 18- 24-year-old female
division, while Haggard placed fourth in
the male 18 - 24-year-old division.
The
high performance levels of both runners
have left them with future triathlon aspirations.
Hoppe is a member of the United States National
Team and hopes to place first either this
weekend or in a future competition in order
to qualify for the Hawaiian Ironman.
Haggard
also plans to stay involved in triathlons
following his CSULB career due to the fact
that he enjoys the sport's growing popularity
and world-wide scene that has developed
as a result.
Though
not an officially sanctioned NCAA sport,
the physical and mental strain of not only
competing in a triathlon, but training for
one is almost unprecedented. The competition
starts this weekend at 7a.m. in Lake Monona,
beginning with a 2.4-mile swim. Next, competitors
must complete a 112-mile bike ride, all
before embarking on a 26.2-mile marathon
run through the University of Wisconsin
campus and surrounding neighborhood.
"We've
been training for this weekend for about
the last six months," Haggard said.
"Everyday, we are focused on this event.
On our long days we'll do a seven-hour bike
ride and then come back and do a three-hour
run."
"I
follow a program set up by multi-sports
just for this type of event,""Hoppe
said. "It can vary between a speed
workout on the track or in the pool, but
then the next day it will be a long bike
ride or run. It's a lot of endurance and
heart rate training so you can go for distance."
Hoppe's
workout regimen'can reach up to 25 hours
a week and that does not include her full
class schedule and job.
"It's
just a lot of work…unbelievable the
amount of time they put in to train for
an Ironman competition,""said"CSULB
Director of Recreations and team advisor
Rita
Hayes. "To try to work and go to school
on top of that, sometimes they are up at
five in the morning to start running, and
then they come back and swim!"
Despite
all the hard work necessary to participate
in such a sport, the triathlon team ranks
high in both participation and accolades.
The team has about 20 collegiate level members
as well as about 40 alumni, faculty and
other community members.
While
the very thought of an Ironman race would
instantly scare most people away from the
club, faculty advisors and members alike
stress the fact that not all of the events
are of the high caliber type. "All
ages and all levels are welcome, we have
meetings the first Thursday of every month
at Pizza Mania at 8 p.m.," Hoppe said.
For
all its present day success, the champion
triathlon team as we know it almost never
was. Originally started at CSULB in the
late 1980s by the late kinesiology and physical
education professor Jack Rose, the traditional
on campus triathlon race was an annual favorite.
"It
was great. Run, bike and swim. We started
at the Health Center, ran around campus,
then rode the perimeter three times, swam
500 meters in the pool, then headed out
to the IM field for post-race festivities,"
said comparative literature professor and
former CSULB tri-athlete Ray Waters. "Dr.
Rose gave out some bags of groceries and
a turkey as prizes. Plus there was a keg.""
The
club and the annual race lost momentum and
tapered off after the passing of Dr. Rose,
but was brought back in 2000 thanks to the
director of recreations Rita Hayes, triathlon
faculty advisor Ray Waters and a new breed
of eager tri-athletes. |
