By Mike Maltais
While the Carlton Complex Fire was scorching a new record across the North Central Washington landscape in mid-July, Liberty Bell High School senior Josiah Klemmeck was scorching his own course in the ChelanMan multisport event at Lake Chelan on July 19.
Klemmeck, 18, one of the youngest in a roster of 109 male competitors, led the field in the ChelanMan Try-a-Tri, a scaled-down model of a full triathlon that featured a 400-meter swim, a 13.1-mile bike course and a 3.1-mile run.
Klemmeck’s combined time of 1 hour, 7 minutes, 40.5 seconds was nearly seven minutes faster than the second-place finisher.
The Try-a-Tri rookie completed the swim leg in 7:13.5. It took Klemmeck a little more than a minute-and-a-half to transition from the water to his bike for the pedal-power phase. Klemmeck parked his bike a half hour later following a 36:25.8 time and required only 54.9 seconds to be on the racecourse for the 3.1-mile run. At a pace of 6.55 minutes per mile Klemmeck completed the run in 25:28.1 to claim first place.
