CHATTANOOGA, TN – Six Grim Reaper Fitness members participated in far-flung races Sunday, highlight be three completing Ironman Chattanooga.
Sarah Mellor paced the Tennessee trio in her first Ironman race, placing 30th in the women’s 35-39 division with a total time of 13:02:50. Mellor completed the swim in 1:00:29, the bike in 6:55:23, and the run in 4:53:43. Relative to the rest of her age group, her run was her best leg as that time was 3th best.
Lauri Meins and Scott Karstens also completed the event. Meins was 58th in 35-39 with an overall time of 14:30:33. She had a swim time of 1:02:21, 7:30:26 in the bike and 5:47:04 in the run.
Karstens had been training for his first Ironman for some time, only to see the pandemic and injuries prevent him from doing so in previous years. He completed the Chattanooga course in 14:48:19. He was 120th in the 50-54 age group, but his swim time in the 4000-meter swim of 52:58 (the point-to-point swim goes with the current) was 49th-best in the division. He finished the bike in 7:37:56 and the run in 5:54:07.
Dirty Mitten
MIDDLEVILLE, MI – Matt Lawson competed in this gravel-and-trail event outside of Grand Rapids, taking 3rd overall in the duathlon, which consisted of a 5k trail run, a 14-mile bike leg on gravel roads, and another 5k trail run. His finishing time was 1:46:15.
Quad Cities Marathon
MOLINE – Greg Dietz completed his first marathon, finishing 11th of 44 in the men’s 40-44 age group with a time of 3:49:42, good for an 8:46 pace.
Laura Becher ran the half marathon and finished 48th in women’s 40-44 with a time of 2:18:39, a 10:35 pace.
