It took Charleston paddler Jeremy Whitted one hour and 17 minutes to navigate the 4-mile paddleboard course and 4-mile beach run to clinch his second consecutive Wrightsville Beach Biathlon win Saturday, March 28.
At 10:30 a.m., 70 paddleboarders lined up their boards facing south across Banks Channel in front of the Blockade Runner Beach Resort. When race director April Zilg signaled the start of the race, they dug their paddles in, the cold north wind at their backs.
“Although we were going against the current, the north wind helped give us some runners to ride a little bit,’ Whitted said.
As the paddlers rounded Money Island and headed back north, local paddler Kevin Rhodes, who teamed up with runner Samantha Mifsud to compete as a relay team, had the lead. Whitted was not far behind.
“I was really close to him most of the race,” Whitted said. “But the last mile or so he pulled away from me. At the same time, I knew that he was racing a relay and I was doing it solo.”
Despite that, Whitted said he wasn’t trying to conserve energy for the run. He was pushing himself over the challenging course because the next time he and several of the other biathletes race over these waters, they will be taking on the best in the world at the April 25 Carolina Cup.
He said while it’s too late to make any dramatic changes or improvements between and now and then, the biathlon served as a good prep race and indication of his endurance.
The biathletes’ stamina was put to the test during the 4-mile beach run following the paddle. Whitted saved valuable seconds by wearing waterproof socks he could slip off without breaking stride on his way to the beach strand. Other competitors changed into tennis shoes or ran in neoprene booties.
The runners raced south to Crystal Pier, north to Johnnie Mercer’s Pier and finished in front of the Blockade Runner. Mifsud had a head start on Whitted but he made up ground running on the hard-packed sand near the water’s edge and crossed the finish line first.
Many of the biathletes, like Whitted, were competitive paddleboarders who run as a part of their cross training. But the race also attracted the opposite: a competitive runner with limited paddleboarding experience. Terry Lane from Jacksonville, Fla., said he has competed in 10k and 5k races but he bought his paddleboard only two days before the biathlon.
Lane said he was visiting Wrightsville Beach and happened to be staying at the Blockade Runner the weekend of the biathlon. He saw an advertisement for the race, so he went on Craigslist and bought a board. He said he has surf racks on his car already, so he can take the board home with him and keep practicing.
While other racers judged their paddle leg by how fast they completed it, Lane said his goal was to not fall in the cold water. He did that, and even managed to stay with the elite paddlers for the downwind part of the course.
“For a while I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m keeping up with them!’” he said. “And then we go around the back and it’s like, ‘Where are they?’”
Despite the chilly temperatures, nearly all of the participants remained on the beach for 45 minutes to cheer Lane on through his beach run.
“That’s one of the things I like about these kinds of events, people cheering you on,” he said. “It’s just for the fun of it.”
Even competitive paddlers like Whitted, in the midst of intense mental and physical Carolina Cup preparation, said the good community and abundance of high fives are the main reason he makes the three and one-half hour drive to race at Wrightsville Beach.
“If you’re within touching distance, you’ll get a high five,” he said. “That’s pretty cool.”
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