Local wins big at 3rd Triathlon

Thanks to Eston Williams, one of the Local Methodist preachers and Pearl Cantrell the writer for the leading newspaper in Cedar Creek

Lake. The hard copy will be out Sunday morning with the following photo of me running just before the final turn to the finish line!

This week has been filled with gluttony (fried pies, BBQ, hamburgers, cheesecake, and more), the sin that Baptist preachers don't preach about.

www.themonitor.net

Local wins big at 3rd triathlon
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
GUN BARREL CITY– The triathlete coach who helped a Seven Points man start a new sport as a triathlete has himself won a major competition.
(A story on these two men and their accomplishment was published in the July 26 issue of The Monitor.)
William Ritter, who works at the Olympic Center in Gun Barrel City, won the overall competition at the Lake Conroe Iron Star race this last weekend.
The 25-year-old was the first to cross the finish line after completing a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike race, and a 13.1-mile run.
It took him 4:23.55, smashing his former best time at a 70.3-mile race of 4:42. Last year at this same race, he finished ninth in 4:49.
Everyone at the Olympic Center congratulates Ritter on his accomplishment.
“I’d like to thank Jesus Christ for letting me making out of this race without getting seriously injured and of course for my second triathlon win ever and my first half win! Also, my parents for putting up with me and getting the hotel room and keeping their boy fed and my coach, Brent Poulsen, who has been guiding me since May, and setting me up for a good race,” Ritter said. “Thanks also to SBR Multi Sports in New York City for sponsoring me this year.”
It was his third 70.3-mile distance race, with last year being his first.
The swim was a beach start with 20-29-year-olds in the last wave, which put Ritter about 20 minutes back from the first wave.
He completed the swim in 34.57 minutes, despite getting whacked on the head by another swimmer and later being tackled and kept down by another crowd of swimmers, he reported.
Ritter also had some trouble with the wetsuit “strippers,” getting his wetsuit stripped off over his enormous calves. The effort left him with a rug burn and a sore bum at the start of the 56-mile bike race.
It was the first time he wore a heart-rate monitor in a race. “I was surprised to see my heart rate over 180 after the swim. On the bike, it gradually came down,” he said.
About a mile into the bike race he hit a bump crossing a bridge that knocked his water bottle off. Ritter was left with just his second bottle of sports drink, which he would have liked to have alternated with the water in the lost bottle.
His goal was to go all out on the bike and take the lead, regardless of the first group’s 20-minute head start. He did the 56 miles in 2:19:04, averaging 24.2 mph.
Then came the 13.1-mile run. He hoped to cover one mile every 6.15 minutes. That pace lasted the first two miles then started slowing down.
Eventually, there were just four runners ahead of him, and the leader five minutes in front of them. After passing the first group, he caught up with the leader at the 9-10 mile marker.
“That’s when I knew I had a good shot at coming in first,” he said.
But with just over a half-mile to the finish, Ritter started puking up Gatorade. He had to stop. He was gagging, and wasn’t sure he’d be able to finish. But he got enough out of his system to begin feeling better and began to run again.
It took him one hour and 27 minutes to finish the half-marathon run. Upon crossing the finish line, Ritter puked a lot more and was put on an IV.
“They told me my lips were blue and I was looking pale,” he said.
The Gatorade didn’t settle too well, but overall it was a good break-through race, he added. His efforts left him with the fastest bike and run splits for the day.
Ritter thanked motorists for not running him down while he trained on his bike on Gun Barrel City streets.