3-days, 4-triathlons, 140+ miles, 1-epic event. The American Triple-T in Ohio has an almost cult like following that continues to attract athletes from more than 40 states and 5 countries each year. Scheduled for the first weekend before Memorial Day each year, the American Triple-T is played out in the majestic Shawnee State Park and Forest located in Portsmouth, Ohio, just 1.5 hours by car from the Columbus, Cincinnati and the Tri State areas. The Shawnee State Park and Forest is known for its spectacular beauty, peaceful bliss and a wide variety of challenging terrain as it is nestled in the southeast corner of Ohio.

Welcome to the 2016 American Triple-T!

What IS the American Triple-T?  Well, it’s everything you’ve heard it to be, and more. The event is so much more than your typical “triathlon weekend” — it’s a triathlon achievement of epic proportions for all who partake. It is 3 consecutive days of racing, gelling together 4 races covering a total of more than 140 miles for the weekend. You will find yourself swimming in the chilly spring-fed lakes, riding the most technically challenging hills in Ohio, and finishing with out-and-back runs along the trail systems climbing and descending those same hillsides.

The American Triple-T is not for the weak or faint of spirit. It has humbled many triathletes who didn’t take it seriously, and it validates a host of others who test their “tri-mettle” at the “T” every year. Athletes from all 50 states, and 4 continents have all sought the privilege of earning their American Triple-T finisher T-shirt. Competitors, volunteers and spectators all come away with a new appreciation of the sport and of the athletes who train and tame mind and body to complete this legendary event.

You’ll also come away with newfound friendships, and you’ll solidify those bonds every year you come together to face this demon. There are even a special few who turned their initial shared experiences at the American Triple-T into a union of souls, and they came back the next year to compete as husband and wife! While we cannot guarantee that you’ll find your soul mate at the “T”, we will guarantee an incredible, unforgettable experience unique in the triathlon world.

So please, take your time, peruse the website, and check out all of the unique aspects of this amazing weekend event, then reach deep down and find the courage to sign up and join us at the 2016 American Triple-T on May 20–22. This event has boasted a SOLD OUT field for the past decade.

EARLY BIRD registration ends on September 30th at Midnight. Save $50.00 by getting yourself registered NOW for one of the most unique events in triathlon.

[GET REGISTERED NOW]

Need some inspiration? Maybe some motivation…Check out the 2015 highlight video. This 90 second video captures the essence of the American Triple-T.

Need even more reasons to give the American Triple-T a try? Check out this awesome video by Adam Ward that tells you like it is…

Race #1: Super Sprint

Friday, May 20th, 2016 at 5:00 P.M.

SWIM: The 250 meter swim is a counter clockwise loop course in Turkey Creek Lake with participants starting in a time trial start every 3-5 seconds. Swim start is a dry land running start. Wetsuits allowed.

BIKE: The 6k bike course is a challenging loop course to the top of the resort and back. Bring your climbing gears.

RUN: The 1 mile run course is an out and back course on Lamp Black Run trail.

Race #2: Olympic AM

Saturday, May 21st, 2016 at 7:30 A.M.

SWIM: The 1500 meter swim is a counter clockwise loop course in Turkey Creek Lake with participants starting in a time trial start every 3-5 seconds. Swim start is a dry land running start. Wetsuits allowed.

BIKE: The 24 mile bike course is a challenging loop course on park fire roads within the park and state routes outside the park. Bring your climbing gears.

RUN: The 6.55 mile run course is an out and back course on Lamp Black Run trail.

Race #3: Olympic PM

Saturday, May 21st, 2016 at 3:00 P.M.

BIKE: The 25.6 mile bike course is a challenge loop course on park fire roads within the park and state routes outside the park. Bring your climbing gears.

SWIM: The 1500 meter swim is a counter clockwise loop course in Turkey Creek Lake with participants starting after the completion of the bike. Swim start is a running start from the transition area. Wetsuits allowed.

RUN: The 6.55 mile run course is an out and back course on park fire on Lamp Black Run trail. This is a tough course. Same as morning run course.

Race #4: Half

Sunday, May 22nd, 2016 at 7:00 A.M.

SWIM: The 1.2 mile swim is a counter clockwise 2 lap course in Turkey Creek Lake. Swim start is a dry land running start. Wetsuits allowed.

BIKE: The 56 mile 1 lap bike course is a VERY challenging loop course on paved fire roads within the park and state routes outside the park. Bring your climbing gears. This course is awesome — you won’t forget it!

RUN: The 13.1 mile run course is a double out and back course on Lamp Black Run trail. This is same course you’ve run on all weekend. You love it or hate it by now!

EARLY BIRD registration ends on September 30th at Midnight. Save $50.00 by getting yourself registered NOW for one of the most unique events in triathlon.

[GET REGISTERED NOW]

Here’s some feedback from the 2015 American Triple-T:

“BTW, I had a great time. It was my first tripleT. It was as much a mental exercise as physical. Great friends developed!! Thank you!!!”

“Thank you for producing and directing an amazing event! The support, camaraderie, and sportsmanship was phenomenal!”

“We both enjoyed the race. The challenge was terrific. The volunteers were great. Your bike mechanic was fabulous, he saved my bike on Sunday. Thanks,”

“Thank you for putting on a terrific race. The HFP staff and volunteers are outstanding.
Thanks again,”

“Thank you for another great race weekend — you guys are amazing, as are your volunteers. It would not be the race event that it is, if it weren’t for the excellent direction and the positive attitude of the volunteers. It’s infectious.”

“This past Saturday I did my first triathlon ever, and lucky enough it was with HFP! WOW! What a great first experience; from all the wonderful volunteers to the smoothness of the event and how well it flowed. 10/10 experience and I am officially addicted 🙂 Thank you again for such a wonderful race day experience!!!!”

“That would be wonderful on my part. I want to give this race the respect that it deserves and not race unless I’m ready. This race is still the BEST value in triathlon and your organization trumps Mdot any day of the week!”

Welcome to the Hocking Mud Run presented by OhioHealth at Hocking College on Saturday, October 10 at 10:00am. This challenging event will feature man made and natural obstacles on a 5k course in and around campus. Whether you’re an veteran athlete or a weekend warrior, you’ll conquer 8 challenging obstacles like the Tower of Bale-ble and Mud Dauber, wade across the banks of the Hocking River, and venture through backwood trails as you make your way to the finish line. You’ll be rewarded with a finisher medal and ice cold beer. Then head to the post-race party to relive all the action with friends, dance to live music at the Appalachian Outdoor Adventure, and celebrate your race against time (and mud). The finish is next to the festival beer garden where the fun really starts!

Check out the killer course we put together for you.

All events will take place at the beautiful Hocking College Campus in Nelsonville, Ohio during the Appalachian Outdoor Adventure presented by Rocky Brands. The Appalachian Outdoor Adventure presented by Rocky Brands is a family fun event that will feature outdoor adventures including Camping, Archery, pistol and rifle shooting, live music and entertainment, equestrian events, outdoor culinary cook-off, celebrity appearances and the Timberworks Lumberjack Show.

SPECIAL OFFER – $30 OFF & THE FIRST BEER IS ON US!
Register online anytime before October 8th at midnight using the code “OU-MUD-RUNNER” and receive $30.00 off your entry and the first beer at the Beer Garden is FREE. That’s only $20.00 bucks for a super kick arse time…what are you waiting for!!!! GET REGISTERED NOW!

• More information on this event
• More information on the festival

What a privilege to be able to represent the USA at the ITU Triathlon World Championships this week. Chicago is a world class city and is proving to be an amazing host venue for this event.  Shortly after making the team last season we decided to make the Chicago trip a family affair and the Kurek family (including our dog Dave) made the trip. We’re staying just to the east of Chicago at the Portage, IN Jellystone Park, which is a kid and dog friendly campground.

The trip to downtown Chicago each day takes about 45 minutes depending on traffic and allows us an economical solution for taking the entire family (including Dave) to an international event.

We arrived on Wednesday for packet pickup and a quick tour of the area. The biggest challenge of this event is it’s very spread out and going North or South requires you to cross over busy 8 lane city streets.These same streets remained open during all the events except for the elite mens and womens racing which is an amazing logistical feat and was noted by Jennifer and I. As a race director for more than 25 years it was impressive to see all the moving parts of this event.

This is such a family friendly city and shortly after picking up my packetat the massive outdoor expo we visited the “worlds largest” outdoor playground. This playground was awesome and gave our kids the opportunity to burn off some energy. As you can see from every photo the city skyline is fabulously featured in every direction you look. I took this opportunity to visit the massage tent at the expo and got a 30 minute massage which was much needed after all the travel.

The toughest part of race day for us was that I did not start until 12:50pm but I still was required to check in my gear before 9:30am. This meant for a pretty early wake up call for the family to be able to avoid Chicago rush hour traffic on the commute in. We still got caught up in some serious traffic with 7 miles to go to our parking lot and as we got to within 1.4 miles the traffic was at total gridlock. I finally got just too nervous and jumped out of the car and starting running to the transition area to check in my gear. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and finally got to relax. With more than 3 hours before my race start I decided to check out the swim exit and long run (nearly 400 yards) to the bike transition before reuniting with my family at Buckingham Fountain (next to the finish). I was quite surprised to see that there were NO swim buoys marking the course between the start and finish of the point-to-point 750 meter swim. Sure it’s a straight line but it would be nice to have a few buoys along the way to navigate on, especially for my wave that was going on at 12:50pm when the winds would be surely making Lake Michigan choppy.

With temps in the mid 80’s by Noon it was quite easy to warm up and I kept the warm up short to avoid over heating. When I came back from my warm up Maddy surprised me by “attempting” to wear my swim gear. That was a nice laugh before getting down to the business of racing. We were required to get to the designated swim corral 20 minutes before that start of our wave and with no shade it was brutal to stand there for 20 minutes sweating in my wetsuit. Thankfully my buddy and teammate Michael Boone and I found each other and got a chance to pray together. This gave us both a sense of calm and refocused us for the task at hand. By the time we were released to the swim start I was feeling totally overheated and the 63 degree water felt awesome. We were given just under two minutes to find a spot on the start line before the horn went off and this world championship was underway. The pace was immediately crazy fast and all I could see was flailing arms. After a couple waves to the face and unwanted gulps of Lake Michigan I finally found a good rhythm between two guys swimming my pace. With no buoys to site off of I really had no idea where I was or if the line I was swimming was good. Eventually the lone buoy marking the swim exit appeared and the pack narrowed down to a mosh pit of flailing arms and legs as we made the only turn on the course towards the swim exit. Swim time 12:34. The run to the bike transition was long (3:31) but gave me time to get my wetsuit peeled down to my waist and focus on the transition from swim to bike. I keep telling myself “5 strides after the second speaker after the light tower, 5 strides after the second speaker after the light tower…” it would be crucial to quickly find my bike in the mass of 2000 bikes. I had no problem finding my bike and quickly grabbed my helmet and put on my shoes for yet another long run out of transition.

The start of the bike was a bit chaotic as you were greeted by thousands of cheering spectators and earlier waves riding by as you mounted your bike. My heart rate was sky high as I jumped on my bike and began cranking the pedals. It’s nearly impossible to feel great at the beginning of the bike and this was the case for me as my legs were not ready for the pace I was pushing. However, I was moving through the field quite nicely and passing guys with “45” on their calves one after another on the first of three laps. At the end of lap #1 I was coming out of a turn and a big Swiss rider bumped into me and I thought we were both going down. Thankfully this gave me a nice shot of adrenaline and I rode away from him and onto lap #2. The course was flat but the wind was quite strong on the eastbound direction of the course and had several “speed-bumps” that were causing havoc on the course. I found that keeping my speed and bunny hopping the speed-bumps was the best technique for getting over them. However, on lap #3 I was forced into on coming bike traffic due to congestion on the course as a bunny hopped at 26mph. My legs felt better after each lap and I hit the dismount line in 28:10 for the 12.4 miles. I was third in my wave after the bike.

The bike to run transition was a long 2:36 but as I started the 1.5 lap 5k run my legs felt strong but I was VERY hot. I immediately passed another athlete in my wave for second position and now it was time to run down a hard running Canadian about 100 yards up the road I spotted as I ran around the fountain on lap #1. I knew this guy had to be in my wave. With just a half a lap to I was close enough to confirm he was indeed the leader of our wave. I was near the end of my limit as I approached the back of him and questioned if I should blow by him or slow down next to him and rest for a sprint to the finish. I decided to pick up the pace and make him try to match my pace as we neared the final run turn around. As I started my move we passed a contingent of Canadian fans that screamed encouragement to him…talk about bad timing! However, the surge worked and he was unable to match my pace and I had a good 10 yards on him at the run turn around. Now it was time to hold on for dear life and not blow up. I knew I was close to exploding as I was very hot and my quads were close to locking up. As we approached the grand finish at Buckingham Fountain I looked back and passing the fading Canadian was a hard charging Frenchmen. It’s never easy…with everything I had I sprinted the final 150 meters and held off the Frenchmen by just a couple steps at the line. As I laid in a crumpled heap on the finish carpet the announcer enthusiastically announced “a 1:01:30 for the mens 45-49…now that is a great time!” Little did I know the announcer was speaking of the defending ITU World Champion Frederic Tete from France…Frederic started in the 45-49 B wave and just nearly caught me from the wave behind me. After a quick ice bath in the finisher area I found my family and checked my phone for the official results. My time of 1:06:27 was good for 6th overall in the 45-49 age group with a final run time 19:38. The top 5 places came from the wave B that started after me. Initially I was pretty bummed to have crossed the line first in my wave but to finish 6th until I got a text from my buddy Curt Haywood that read “6th human-being aged 45-49 on the earth in the Sprint Triathlon World Championships, pretty darn awesome bro!”. No doubt…I gave it everything I had and collapsed at the finish with ZERO left in the tank. Would I made the podium if I started in the second wave? Maybe…but the two gentlemen in 4th and 5th place are perennial USA All-Americans, one of which was the 2014 USA National Champion.

In closing;  As I looked over at my family behind the fencing of the athlete only area, shortly after finishing, I could only think how much God has blessed me immeasurably. Thanks so much to my amazing wife Jennifer and the most dedicated kids on the planet…Henry, Maddy and EZ.  Now it’s time to enjoy a few days in Chicago and drink, eat and be merry! Below was my first “gluten rich” meal in about 6 weeks 😉

Due to poor trail conditions we’ve decided to eliminate the trail section of the run course for this weekends FIT Family Series event at Portage Lakes State Park.

CLICK HERE to view the new map.

Online Registration Closes: September 11, 2015 – 12:00 noon EST

Hocking College is hosting the First Annual Appalachian Outdoor Adventure presented by Rocky Brands on October 9 and 10, 2015. Held on the beautiful Hocking College Campus at the time when the fall leaves are turning into full autumn colors, this family fun event will feature outdoor adventures including Camping, Archery, pistol and rifle shooting, live music and entertainment, equestrian events, outdoor culinary cook-off, biking events, the Appalachian Triathlon/Duathlon and Mud Run presented by OhioHealth, celebrity appearances and the Timberworks Lumberjack Show.

Admission is $10 or $5 with half off coupons available in most Nelsonville business locations. Archery events for kids grade 4 through 12 and Pistol and Rifle shooting events for kids grade 7–12 will be held on Saturday for only a $15 registration fee that includes an all weekend admission to the event grounds. A safety demonstration class and an exhibition by a well-known expert will round out these events. The Stihl Timberworks Lumberjack show will feature feats of axe throwing, chopping, log rolling, cross cut sawing, hot sawing and chainsaw carving.

Shane Rickly, Rocky Sponsored Professional Roughstock Series Bull Rider will be signing autographs and giving bull riding and calf roping demonstrations. Rickly was the World Champion Bull Rider for International Professional Rodeo Association in 2011, received a top 5 finish in the 2012 PRS World Finals and was 2014 PRS BULL RIDING WORLD FINALS AVERAGE CHAMPION. He is a native of Amanda, Ohio and has worked with cattle and livestock since he was a child and was roping and riding by age four. Injuries include a lost thumb, dislocated shoulder and broken nose that can’t keep Rickly away from the sport he loves. Be sure to attend his educational and fun demonstrations to listen and learn from the best!

Rocky/Don Schumacher Racing Mopar funny car driven by 2011 and 2014 NHRA Funny Car Champion, Matt Hagan, will be on display tso that you can get an up close and personal view of this magnificent 10,000 Horsepower beast!

Steve Francis is the primary driver of the Georgia Boot Late Model Dirt car with the Clint Bowyer racing team, Steve has continued his legacy as the winningest driver of the tour (2004 – present). Stop by to see the Georgia Boot/Clint Bowyer Racing car on display!

The Inaugural Appalachian Triathlon/Duathlon & Mud Run presented by OhioHealth features events for the whole family. The Appalachian Triathlon (swim/bike/run) and Duathlon (run/bike/run) and Appalachian Half Marathon Run (13.1 miles) is designed for the seasoned and novice competitor while the Appalachian Bike Adventure is a family fun scavenger hunt with prizes and giveaways along the course.

Outdoor Cooking Demonstrations will feature six prominent, regional chefs as they perform their culinary magic live onstage demonstrating and explaining their cooking prowess.

This year’s Live Music Line up on the Main Stage includes Rumpke Mountain Boys, Angela Perley and the Howlin’ Moons, Serpentilla, Megan Hillyer, Jeremy Gibson and More!

PRESS CONTACT: Michael Brown 740-753-6559 / John Page 614-216-3252