Published: June 14, 2009 12:37 am      

Bice takes River City

Pioneer senior wins local triathlon; 183 triathletes compete

One hundred and eighty three triathletes converged on Logansport Saturday for the 14th annual River City Triathlon held at beautiful France Park.

A child led the way when Pioneer senior-to-be Ryan Bice crossed the finish line as the overall winner with a time of 1:02:24.

Sharing the podium with Bice was second-place finisher Doug Robinson of Indianapolis with a time of 1:03:35. Rounding out the top trio was Christopher Downer of Indianapolis claiming third with a time of 1:06:21.

Bice was extremely pleased with his finish and the course.

“I thought the course was perfect and the weather was great for this kind of event. It was a nice tune-up for my next race,” said Bice. The junior team that Bice races with is out of Chicago and they will be competing in California on July 19.

It was Anne Iddins of Corunna, Ind., coming across in first in the women’s division. Her time on the course was 1:20:20. She was followed by Michele Dziaba of Mundelein, Ill., at 1:20:35 and in third was Lori Cook of Spencerville, Ind., with a time of 1:21:16.

More than one-fifth of the participants were from this area and the Loganland area competed well against the field. In addition to the winner being a local, Tony Zimmerman of Peru finished fourth overall with a time of 1:08:42. Sam Williamson Jr. of Logansport claimed the ninth spot at 1:10:36.

After the triathlon Williamson spoke of his performance on the course.

“The road course was kind of rough today with the potholes and stuff, but other than that it was pretty smooth all over,” he said. “It’s actually a pretty nice course here. I was about 15th coming out of the water and actually moved into second after the biking, but I had a few people pass me while running. But it was a good day.”

Brian Pearson of Logansport was competing in his first triathlon and he finished the course in 1:36:12. Though he didn’t think it was as bad as he thought it would be, he was happy to have finished his first time out.

“I really enjoyed the course, but I had a little difficulty in the biking part,” he said. “At about the seven- and eight-mile mark there were too many hills and I think that was about the hardest part of the race. Plus, I had a lot of people trying to run over me while I was swimming, but I really enjoyed it all.”

Also competing in her first triathlon was Shelly Crozier of Logansport. Crozier’s first time out earned her a time of 1:44:13. She spoke about the experience of her first outing.

“The swimming part of the race was something; you feel so claustrophobic while you’re in the water,” she said. “It’s hard to see anything and I lost a contact during that time. I didn’t like the swimming part of the race but the biking was nice. It was really beautiful out there. The running part of it was different. I’ve run some road courses but this was through the trails. My goal today didn’t involve time, I just wanted to finish the course.”

There was also a mother-daughter tandem competing again in this year’s event in Lewis Cass senior-to-be Jade Sarver and her mother Shomay Sarver of rural Peru. Shomay came in with a time of 1:35:23 while Jade finished at 1:37:39. Though mom finished ahead of daughter, she seemed to be a bit more winded at the finish line.

“I sure don’t remember all the hills from last year,” Shomay said. “Plus the swimming always seems to just kill me. The biking is my favorite part, but I really liked all of it.”

Jade shared her thoughts about her time on the course.

“I really enjoy the swimming part. It’s my favorite part and it seems to be the only part of the race that doesn’t kill me,” she said.

Both Shomay and Jade will be battling each other again next month when they both will be competing in a race in Kokomo.