a
16 - The Dallas Post
Dallas, PA Wednesday, August 12, 1992
Triathlon
~ (continued from page 1)
‘mounted deputies at the Penn State
‘Campus where the transition from
bicycling to running will take place,
‘and where the race will finish.
+ Many of the triathlon volun-
teers have been involved since the
first race in 1982, a few, such as
Ayleen Landon of Dallas, even
~ longer.
' Landon, who supervises the bike
to run transition at Penn State
has been involved with the tri-
athlon since before it was a triath-
lon — when it was only a run more
than a decade ago.
+ “It was called the Back Moun-
tain Run for about five years," said
Landon. “My kids and my hus-
band ran.”
. Her husband, Tom Landon,
‘makes sure that the athletes all
get on the bus at Penn State to
‘make it to Harveys Lake to the
swim.
~~ Ron Dean of Dallas was pulled
inte the triathlon by friends for the
first race in 1982, and he’s been
stuck with it ever since.
© “I had some friends who were
doing this and they said do me a
favor...," said Dean, who along with
his wife Amy, takes care of the
registration of racers. This year,
he'll also be montoring the hairpin
| curve at the face of the Huntsville
Dam.
~ . For the Deans and other Back
| Mountain families, the triathlon
has become a sort of exchange
program, as they've opened their
home to professional athletes from
around the world. For one race, he
had nine athletes staying in his
home in Foxhollow.
GR
«. This year, sisters Joan and Joy
~ Hansenare staying with the Deans.
“Joy Hansen puts away a roast
beef dinner,” said Ron Dean. “You
can't eat in a day what she puts
away at dinner. Joan has a baked
~ potato and a salad.”
+. Of all the athletes that have
‘stayed with them, Amy Dean re-
members best New Zealander Scott
~ Donaldson who stayed with them |
two years ago.
~~ “Itwas his first time in the U.S.,”
said Amy Dean. “He was kind of
| like a kid in a candy store. He was
supposed to stay for a week, but
instead he stayed two and half
| weeks.”
~ +. To this day, the Deans and
| Donaldson keep in touch.
““It's like an extended family,”
said Amy Dean.
“I like it because its a very big
| event. It's a good event for the Back
Mountain,” said Chip Morgan of
~ Shavertown, swim coordinator for
the past four years.
~ Aswiminstructor for the Ameri-
can Red Cross, Morgan has been a
- volunteer for the triathlon since
the first one.
«“Gradually, I just moved up,” he
‘said.
9
A WINNING TEAM — Co-race directors for the Wilkes-Barre
Triathlon James Harris and Joanne Gensel at Penn State Univer-
sity's Lehman Campus which will host the triathlon this year.
For Pat Kramer of Shavertown,
who finds hosts for the interna-
tional athletes, the triathlon has
been a family project since the very
beginning.
Her brother Tim Bauman helped
found the race in 1976 when it was
just a run. Though no longer from
the area, he puts his familarity
with the pros towork, making sense
of the race for spectators as an
announcer at the finish line.
Though Kramer's husband
David was killed several years ago
while making sure the course was
set up properly the night before
the race, she's stuck with the tri-
athlon.
If there is a medical emergency
during the race, Dr. Charles
Krivenko of Dallas and Nancy Kline
of Shavertown, nursing supervi-
sor of Nesbitt Hospital's emergency
room, will have a cadre of para-
medics at both the swimming area
and Penn State University.
Ed Gensel, along with Dallas
Borough Police Chief Jack Fowler
and Frank Gelsleichter will coordi-
nate the volunteers along the
course to try to prevent accidents.
The Murgas Amateur Radio Club
is providing radios and operators
for the race.
' Martin Noon and Larry Dauksis
of Harveys Lake gather a group of
motorcyclists together who carry
race marshalls along the course to
make sure no rules are broken.
Dozens of other volunteers co-
ordinate other aspects of the race,
‘and scores of people help simply
by being there with water along the
course for the racers.
Joanne Gensel started as a vol-
unteer helping at the water sta-
tions.
“I'm not an athlete. I'm not a
swimmer, a runner or a biker,”
said Gensel. “To see it all come
together, it's a wonderful experi-
ence. It's a fun event, it’s a healthy
event.”
In 1988 Gensel assisted race .
directorJerry Kowalskiand in 1989
she helped director Scott Milling-
ton.
3 !
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In 1990 she and Harris teamed
up to direct the race. The team
approach worked, making it pos-
sible for a director to be two places
at once in the growing race.
Gensel oversees the action at
the swim area, where the race
begins and where the swim to
bicycle transition is, and Harris
stations himself at Penn State
University, where the bicycle to
run transition is located, along
with the finish line.
Gensel takes care of the regis-
tration, Harris the publicity.
“I enjoy talking to the athletes
on the phone,” said Gensel. “We
get calls from all over the world,
and theysayit's agreatrace. People
forget how national and interna-
tional the race has become.”
Gensel said that one competitor
entered the race after hearing about
it on the beach.
Harris's involvement with the
triathlon started as a competitor
in 1985, when he raced in his first
triathlon in the Back Mountain.
“ My wife Andrea was a swim
coordinator in 1989. In 1989 Scott
Millington asked me to be bike
coordinatar,” said Harris, who still
races in triathlons. “I miss racing
this race.”
“I liken it to theater, to directing
a play. I was in theater for years
and years. I've been doing events
like this since high school,” said
Harris, but he added, like a play,
“there's nothing a director can do
on opening day.”
Harris began racing in tri-
athlons because of the challenge,
but says that directing the race is
a lot harder.
“I never dreampt about racing.
But I dream about the race a lot,”
said Harris. “Triathlon is an indi-
vidual competition. Organizing the
triathlon is a very big team effort.”
“People come up and just say
thank you and it’s a great feeling,”
said Gensel.
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Wilkes-Barre Triathlon Harveys Lake
Bicycle Course
at. 419
Finish»
Penn State
University
Zz
\ \
\
Catalpa Road
Demunds
corners
Lower Demunds Road
"60€ 1d
Hilderbrandt
Fernbrook
rT \Corners
Triathlon course and schedule
The Wilkes-Barre Triathlon
will start at 8:30 a.m. with the
1.5 kilometer swimming leg at
Sandy Beach at Harveys Lake.
Spectators are strongly advised
not to drive to the lake because
there isn't any parking available.
Shuttle buses will be provided
from the Penn State campus in
Lehman to the lake.
The first swimmer is expected
out of the water by 8:50 a.m. and
the bicycle leg will begin.
The 40 kilometer bicycle
course will follow Route 415 from
Sandy Beach to Hanson's, where
it will turn north to Route 29.
From Route 29, the course will
turn back towards the lake at
Alderson. The bicyclists will
continue along the Alderson-
Kunkle Road, Catalpa Road,
Lower Demunds Road, Over-
brook Road, Huntsville Road, and
Old Route 115 to Penn State
University's Lehman Campus.
Traffic may be slowed all along
the bicycle course, but drivers
can expect delays at the follow-
ing intersections in particular:
Route 309 and Kunkle-Alderson
Road, Demunds
Fernbrook Corners, Overbrook
Road and Pioneer Avenue, and
Huntsville Road at the face of the
dam. While the triathlon was held
at College Misericordia for all of
its previous years, it was moved
Corners, .
to Penn State because the con-
struction work at Misericordia
left no room for the triathlon set-
up.
The first bicyclist is expected
to finish at about 9:50 a.m.
The 10 kilometer run course
will take the athletes through ru-
ral farm roads behind the Penn
State Campus to Sutton Road
and Mountain View Road. Ths
first overall finisher is expected”
at about 10:30 a.m. at the Penn
State Campus.
The race is expected to be com-
pleted by 1 p.m. The awards
ceremony has been scheduled
for 1:30 p.m.
ii
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