August 20, 2009 (Boulder, CO) – In five weeks, triathletes will grind it out in Newton's 24 Hours of Triathlon. But in the first-ever Newton Trail Triathlon at Boulder Reservoir, there was a stark contrast in strategy:  "This is full gas, as fast as you can go and hard as you can go for an hour," said overall winner Winfield Hartley, 39, Boulder.

Susie Wasson was first to exit the
water in 12 minutes 21 seconds

Hartley completed the 750-meter swim, 5K trail run and 10K trail ride in 1 hour 26 seconds.

While the Boulder Reservoir site was fairly familiar to Hartley, running on the beach, single-track trails, the back of dunes and climbing over fences added a degree of fun and interest.

So did the swim-run-bike order.

"I've never done that before, and I've never done the mountain bike portion where you have to push your bike up the hill, go through gravel and over fences," said Superior's Susie Wasson, 43, who was first out of the water.  Wasson finished the race third overall among women and 13th overall in 1:11.40

Laurie Mizener enjoyed the event because she was able to ride her cyclocross bike in a triathlon event.  Not that there weren't some technical problems.  A third of a mile into the biking portion, she was yelling out for anyone who had an Allen wrench.

"When I did a jump-out on my seat, I apparently didn't have the bolt tight because my seat slid all the way down and I was pedaling with me knees in my chest," Mizener said.

Women's winner, Laurie Mizener

Fortunately a spectator had the simple tool, and Mizener was able to fix the problem, catch Wasson and finish first among the women—and sixth overall—in 1:05:48.

Darren Rapaport wasn't so fortunate.  He had not one, but two flat tires.

"That could have been me," he said as he watched Hartley cross the finish line first.

Rapaport, an Army officer who works in the athletic department at the Air Force Academy, thought he had a chance at winning.

"I was just on the other side of the dam, chasing down first place and closing the gap pretty fast," he said. "Then I had a flat on the rear (tire) and before you knew it I was heading downhill, barreling, and had a flat on the front. I walked away unscathed, but my two wheels not so much. You do this long enough and it's bound to happen."

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