Volunteering at Cottage Lake

In June and again in September, I was a swim volunteer at Mary Meyer's new triathlons at Cottage Lake. Called the "Get Out There and Tri Series", it offered a super-sprint distance (about 1/2 the distances of a regular sprint, so: 1/4 mile swim, 4.6 mile bike ride and 1.6 mile run).

There was an Elite Division - 2 times through the super-sprint: swim, bike, run, swim, bike, run, plus what? 5 transitions, one of them being the odd duck of a run-to-swim. I'm not sure if they are T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 or what. Imagine being tired and hot after the run and taking off the shoes and race belt, donning the cap and goggles, skipping the wet suit and plunging back into the water. I was out in the water watching when those racers came back for their second 1/4 mile swim. They did look fatigued and slower than their first lap around the buoys. I would have liked to try that, just to see what a double course might be like. But as you can see from the photos, I stuck with volunteering and I'm glad I did. It's another way to enjoy the sport.

The water volunteers were lifeguards on paddle boards, kayakers in kayaks and swimmers in wetsuits. We lined the course to provide safety and encouragement to the swimmers (and maybe chat amongst ourselves during the lulls between waves).

Mary's races also featured a kid's division at Cottage Lake and in mid-August, there was the Sammamish Splash JUST for kids with 3 distances for the various age groups to choose from. For the swim at Cottage Lake, I stood in waist-deep water and pretty much watch the hoard of kids go by. A few actually swim or dog-paddle, but most seem to end up "running" through the water (if they are big enough to touch bottom). It's kind of funny to watch. A few of the stragglers who have trouble may get a passed from volunteer to volunteer over the approximate 25 yard triangle course. Some kids like the support so much, they drag their personal swim volunteer along with them to the mat, like this kid here who had a death-grip on my thumb.

My 10-year old niece wants to try her first tri next summer and I've encouraged her parents to think about any of Mary's triathlons or Seafair in mid-July. Corinne has been doing "synchro" (synchronized swimming) for several years so is comfortable in the water and is quite competent pedaling all over hilly Port Townsend where she lives. I welcomed Corinne's entrance to the world when I attended her birth with parents Chris and Jamie a decade ago and hope ol' Aunt Karen can see her do her first triathlon.

Here are the cousins at the same spot in Kansas City, at age 10. Corinne is on the left (last summer) and my girl Camille on the right (about 3+ years ago).