Race Coverage

 

By Maddie Nygaard (maddienygaard.weebly.com)

 

As many of you may know already, my brother, Corey Nygaard, is an insane triathlete. For those of you who don't know what a triathlon is, here it is: a triathlon is an individual sport where athletes compete in short, or long, races. These races consist of three sports into one: swimming, biking, and running. I never really was big on triathlons until my brother started to compete in them. And let me tell ya, it is absolutely amazing. In total, Corey has competed in 33 triathlons. Here is my story about my brother, and what he loves to do. 

 

This article on my brother has been long overdue, but I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Okay, here we go. Corey has only been into triathlons for 4 years, and his very first race was actually a duathlon, in Fergus Falls, MN. This race consisted of a 20 mile bike, then a 4 mile run, then a 7 mile bike to finish it off. I remember this race like it was yesterday. It was SO COLD and SO WINDY that day. Not great racing weather. With this being his first race, Corey was very unprepared. He had only his mountain bike, shorts and a rain jacket. I remember him telling us how hard it was, and that he never wants to do it again. Yeah, that wasn't the case. He ended up doing the duathlon again, and did improve, because he was more prepared. Now, after the duathlon, he found the Hoot Lake triathlon, which was also located in Fergus Falls. This race was known as a sprint triathlon. It consisted of a 450 meter swim, about a 17 mile bike, and a 5k run. I, myself, have experienced this race twice. Once when I was 16, and just this past ... summer, when I was 19. The first time I raced, I was just like Corey, and I never wanted to do it again. I finally got the courage to do it again this year. I trained harder, and was older and stronger than I was when I was 16. Man, was there an improvement. I never felt so good crossing that finish line, and getting that third place medal around my neck. Even though it is a small town race, I was finally able to understand why Corey loves this sport so much. It just makes you feel so good about yourself, and that you can accomplish anything. 

 

With Racine, Corey has had some ups and downs with this race. There was only one race, where it was perfect weather and they did the whole race. Every year since then, the swim has been cancelled, and/or the bike has been shortened because of weather. To add on to that, we had about a 2 and a half hour delay last year because of a storm the morning of the race. That was not fun, but being Corey's number one sherpa, I was making sure that I was staying positive for him, because these races are his life. But again, that was the year that Corey qualified for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Chattanooga TN, this summer, which is amazing! He attempted Racine again this summer, along with his good friend Branden Scheel. Again, the swim was cancelled, because the of the temperature in Lake Michigan, which was another huge bummer. On the other hand, Corey has been battling a very bad knee injury, and I remember seeing the pain in his eyes when he ran by me on the course. But knowing Corey, he will not quit. READ MORE