Even before the first hints of daybreak lightened the sky from black to deep blue the morning of Saturday, Sept. 27, Wrightsville Beach Park was swarming with activity.
Almost 800 competitors in the 33rd Wilmington YMCA Sprint Triathlon crowded the park, silhouetted against floodlights as they wheeled their bicycles into the transition area. Jittery anticipation filled the busses transporting athletes from Wrightsville Beach Park to the Blockade Runner Beach Resort, where they would enter the water to begin the 1,500-meter swim.
At 7 a.m., the first wave of competitors splashed into Banks Channel, swimming in the direction of Seapath Yacht Club. With water temperature dipping down to 76 degrees, athletes were permitted to wear wetsuits. For participants like Paula Mangus, who didn’t bring a wetsuit, the brisk water provided extra incentive to swim fast.
“I was just trying really hard to get out of there,” Mangus remarked after the race, standing near the finish line with relay partner Charlie Nimmo and her daughter, who also competed.
In addition to fighting the current in Banks Channel, swimmers also had to contend with choppy conditions created by a stiff northeast sea breeze.
“Well, I only drank half the ocean,” Mangus said. “But I think my daughter drank the other half.”
After climbing out of the water at Seapath Yacht Club, athletes ran to retrieve their bicycles from Wrightsville Beach Park for the 12-mile bike ride. Family members and friends lined Causeway Drive, holding signs and cheering.
Just after 8 a.m., while many competitors were still finishing the first or second leg of the race, Matthew Wisthoff sprinted across the finish line with a final time of 1:01:12. Wisthoff, a 29-year-old professional triathlete based out of Wilmington, said the northeast wind caused problems in each leg of the race.
“With that wind coming down Banks Channel it makes it pretty choppy,” Wisthoff said after catching his breath. “Then the wind kind of pushed you around on the drawbridge during the bike…and knocked your speed down a little bit. And in the run you had a couple of headwind sections.”
Wishoff said despite his busy competition schedule, he makes an effort to race in the triathlon every year not only because of its close proximity to his house, but also because proceeds from the race benefit the YMCA.
“I’m at the Y a couple times a week, so I definitely believe in the YMCA,” Wisthoff said. “It’s a good, local event. A lot of people show up for it, from beginners to advanced, so it’s a really good mix of the community.”
Wisthoff has now won the triathlon four years in a row. Although this year he achieved his fastest time yet, he just barely missed his personal goal of finishing under an hour.
“I would have rather chopped another minute off,” he said. “But it’s hard to find a minute on this course…I got a little bit closer, and it’s a super fun event.”
For many participants in the triathlon, simply crossing the finish line was enough of a goal.
Paula Mangus previously competed in the Wilmington triathlon as an individual, but this year she decided to form a relay team called Alf and Ralph with her good friend and first-time triathlete, 71-year-old Charlie Nimmo.
Although Mangus said she loved the bike leg of the triathlon, she gave it to Nimmo because he wasn’t comfortable with the other two legs of the race. Nimmo said he used a stationary bike to train for the triathlon.
“I did fine,” Nimmo said. He paused, and then laughed. “I’m lying.”
Mangus said the relay team Alf and Ralph will be back next year, along with the many other participants who might not win any medals, but are chasing more intangible rewards.
“We just do it for us,” she said. “I know for a lot of people, it’s heavy competition, but for us, it’s just to be able to say, we did it. This is something that helps keep you young.”
