2002 IRONMAN Utah
By Kristen McFarland
ISSUE #16, June/July 2002 – The inaugural IRONMAN Utah race in Provo, Utah on Saturday, June 8th, had a very tragic start and ended up not being an IRONMAN at all. The waters of Lake Utah had turned very choppy overnight as a stiff wind kicked up in the valley from a weather front moving in. The course was an out and back loop around a jetty that stretched out about three hundred yards into the loop. As the swimmers entered the water they faced waves a couple of feet high pushing them back and to their left, towards the jetty. About ten minutes before the gun was to go off the sun rose over the high mountains to the east of town. The winds suddenly doubled and so did the height of the waves. At this point most of the athletes were in the water waiting to start.
The waters of the lake are not clear on a calm day. The heavy silt from the clay soil combined with green algae make it so you can’t see your hand in front of your face under the water. When the water started getting rougher and rougher no one could see anything, the buoys, the kayaks, nothing. Before the gun even went off the swimmers were being pushed into the rocks of the jetty. The race was started at about 6: 53, presumably because the race officials noticed that the athletes were getting swept in while they treaded water and they wanted to let them start swimming out. The officials later said that it was because they had decided to let a false start go ahead, since they knew the swimmers couldn’t hear anything out there. Because of the wind and the waves, Tony DeBoom didn’t even hear the gun and tried to stop the oncoming swimmers based on the time on his watch.
“I never heard a thing, never heard a cannon or anything. I just looked back and saw all of these people swimming at me and I actually tried to stop them because I looked at my watch and it said like seven fifty-two. So I tried to stop people, and that was kind of worthless, so I just started swimming.”
Then things just got uglier. The strength of the wind kept increasing and as the athletes tried to negotiate the course the relatively weaker swimmers were swept into the rocks of the jetty and couldn’t even stay out on the course. Incredibly discouraged, these athletes started giving up and climbing out of the water. Spectators along the jetty helped them get over the sharp rocks. Dozens of stunned triathletes sat there and shook their heads in disbelief as they realized their race was over before it had begun. Word came from race officials that an unofficial duathlon was going to start at 9:00 for those who couldn’t make it out in the swim. Then screams for help started coming from the water and some athletes started to drag fellow triathletes in distress from the water. A kayak capsized and four people and its owner clung to it for safety. Others clung to the buoys. Swimmers who had made it past the end of the jetty were being blown all the way across the far side of the course, past the return buoys.
The scene was almost as scary for the spectators on the jetty as it was for the athletes in the water. It was chaos, and the kayakers that were there for the safety of the swimmers couldn’t even keep control of their crafts in the winds. The cameraman in the helicopter said that swimmers were seen going in every possible direction. IRONMAN North America director Graham Frasier and World Triathlon Corporation director Lew Friedland came down to the end of the jetty.
“Get them out of the water, NOW!,” Lew yelled into his radio as the two of them surveyed the situation. Powerboats were immediately dispatched and started plucking people out and bringing loads in to shore and then going back out. To a degree, word spread in the water as athletes started to swim back in also.
Andrea Fisher, Tony DeBoom, and the other swim leaders, however, were fighting their best to get through this leg of the race, oblivious to what was transpiring behind them. The turnaround buoy had blown away and a race volunteer out on a surfboard told them they could head back. This was before the swim had been called off. The current from the wind was so strong out that far, however, that they were swept south at least a quarter of a mile and came out of the water two jetties down from where the swim exit was supposed to be, confused as to where they even were. A pick up truck came to drive them all back over to the race area as they heard the news.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever stopped, took my goggles off, and tried to figure out where I was. I knew there were fifteen hundred or two thousand people in the water, and I couldn’t find a soul. I was really ahead or really, really lost,” said DeBoom. “It was unbelievable. I had never experienced anything like that. I really feel sorry for Graham (Frasier). It was calm all week. Who would have expected that?”
Word went around that a man had died and people feared that others might have been lost. After the race it was confirmed that John Boland of California, an experienced IRONMAN participant, had in fact drowned very early in the swim. Everyone sat on the lawns of the park in shock and waited for the rest to be pulled out of the water and all to be accounted for. Tearful and choked up, Graham Frasier got on the microphone to make announcements but could hardly speak. He said that it seemed that everyone still wanted to race, but that they had to change everything because of the time that had passed.
It was decided that there would be an approximately half-IRONMAN distance duathlon of a sixty-five mile bike and a 13.1-mile run. The female pros, then the male pros would go first, according to number, 15 seconds apart. Then the age-groupers would be sent off three seconds apart, also in order of race number. Prize money and Kona slots would still be awarded.
Race favorite Tony DeBoom (Boulder) was concerned. His swim is strong and he was worried that he had lost his advantage. Besides, he felt that he probably swam three miles.
“Tim Luchinske put a real scare into me, because swimming is a real strength of mine and it’s his weakest event, so I would have come out with a much bigger buffer. I would have had a little more time than a fifteen second head start.” His wife and friends encouraged him and reminded him of his power on the bike. He raced hard and did manage to win with a 4:05:41. His bike split was two minutes faster than second place Tim Luchinske (Lafayette) who came in just a minute slower.
“I beat Tony out of the water,” Luchinske joked after the race. He had gotten word while out in the water that the swimmers were being called in and headed back to shore. Luchinske admitted that a full IRONMAN would have put him several minutes behind DeBoom. “Tony got cheated. He would have come out of the water in 48 and I would have come out in 54, and we both know it. Everybody knows it, so I’m glad he won.”
“It was scary out there. The only thing I kept thinking about was, you know, I’m not a strong swimmer, but I’m not weak either, and all these first-timers, they’re never going to do an IRONMAN again! I’m really impressed with how Graham handled it. That guy is unbelievable.”
He also echoed a complaint that several athletes had with the replacement format, that the odd distance bike leg was difficult to pace. “I’ve never raced seventy miles,” he said (which was what the actual distance turned out to be). “It’s either fifty-six or one twelve.”
Nick Cady (Boulder) placed seventh with a 4:24:20. “I had a better bike than I was expecting to. And my run was good until about the last five K, when I started paying the price for that bike split.”
Jared Berg (Boulder) was 12th overall.
In the women’s race Susan Williams (Littleton) was supposed to be trying the first IRONMAN of her career after years of great success at the Olympic distance. “I was definitely bummed because I wanted to get some IRONMAN experience. But as I was doing the race and dying on the run I was thanking God that it was not a full IRONMAN,” she laughed. A powerful swimmer, she was undaunted by the rough swim, hoping to gain an advantage over the weaker swimmers. “But I couldn’t see where I was going,” she added.
The shortened race probably proved to be an advantage to her and she almost won, managing second place just nine seconds behind Jenny Tobin of Idaho. She biked four minutes faster than Jenny and Jenny ran four minutes faster than her.
Teri Duthie (Boulder) clocked a blazing 3:03:24 on the bike. She liked the staggered bike start, time trial-style, for the replacement race. “It was a good idea. It kind of broke people up, no drafting really. And I was lucky, I got to go a few back, so I had people to chase.”
It was the fastest pro female bike split of the day and earned her fourth in the race.
Tony DeBoom would have probably had the first IRONMAN win of his life, and it has been a long hard journey for it. Yes, he won the replacement race, but the victory wasn’t as sweet, by any means. Never the less, instead of complaining, he reiterated his support for the race organization and concern for the family of the triathlete who had lost his life.
“Considering what happened out there today, I thought they did about as good a job as they could, throwing a different race together in two hours. And they tried to satisfy everybody, which is never going to happen.”
Colorado Results
BIB# OVRA TOTAL NAME STATE DIV DIV BIKE RUN PLAC TIME PLACE
1 1 04:05:41 DEBOOM TONY CO MPRO 1/15 2:45:39 1:18:38
16 2 04:06:35 LUCHINSKE TIM CO MPRO 2/15 2:47:38 1:18:05
10 7 04:24:20 CADY NICHOLAS CO MPRO 7/15 2:52:59 1:30:09
19 12 04:28:31 BERG JARED CO MPRO 10/15 2:54:12 1:33:05
17 22 04:33:54 FRAMKE KIRK CO MPRO 13/15 2:59:37 1:32:53
1007 29 04:37:34 MURRAY TODDB. CO M35-39 6/273 2:58:05 1:38:00
33 37 04:40:13 WILLIAMS SUSANR. CO WPRO 2/13 3:05:14 1:33:22
791 41 04:41:01 HAGER RICHARDP. CO M35-39 10/273 3:07:05 1:31:12
38 54 04:43:20 DUTHIE TERI L. CO WPRO 4/13 3:03:24 1:38:30
1379 59 04:44:34 LESINSKI MARK L. CO M45-49 4/119 3:01:42 1:40:50
186 71 04:46:53 KIRKLAND NATHAN P. CO M25-29 8/138 3:13:30 1:31:53
938 80 04:48:17 GAMBER BILL CO M35-39 18/273 3:15:35 1:30:43
517 113 04:52:08 TURNEY SAMUELR. CO M30-34 24/264 3:07:01 1:42:58
159 117 04:52:56 PERRY MICHAEL D. CO M25-29 17/138 3:08:13 1:42:55
382 130 04:54:25 BRONN MICHAEL D. CO M30-34 30/264 3:13:18 1:39:01
801 141 04:56:16 LAMBROS STANLEY T. CO M35-39 33/273 3:06:25 1:47:54
110 154 04:57:54 TROHA TIMOTHYJ. CO M18-24 11/44 3:12:47 1:43:07
592 157 04:58:26 BECKER JOHN CO M30-34 37/264 3:17:29 1:38:14
1080 162 04:58:50 O’DONNELL ROBERT W. CO M40-44 22/201 3:10:42 1:44:58
211 170 04:59:23 BORTZ JASON CO M25-29 21/138 3:07:51 1:49:45
347 175 05:00:17 PETERSON ERIC CO M30-34 42/264 3:09:27 1:49:22
404 183 05:01:08 JORDAN JOHN CO M30-34 44/264 3:06:45 1:52:15
452 185 05:01:27 ARMSTRONG PAULE. CO M30-34 45/264 3:10:45 1:48:03
121 189 05:02:03 JOHNSON AJ CO M25-29 26/138 3:10:38 1:49:26
456 204 05:03:27 BUXMAN ERIC CO M30-34 50/264 3:08:51 1:51:43
1241 205 05:03:31 JOHNSON ROBERT K. CO M40-44 29/201 3:11:17 1:50:20
1090 212 05:04:07 WASON DAVID M. CO M40-44 31/201 3:14:14 1:47:49
479 217 05:04:43 KAMINSKI JASON CO M30-34 53/264 3:14:43 1:47:27
630 243 05:07:44 MELLINGER TODD W. CO M30-34 61/264 3:04:33 1:59:53
1484 245 05:07:50 SELENOW VICTOR CO M45-49 17/119 3:15:27 1:50:34
918 273 05:10:15 FLEMING T. SCOTT CO CLY 60/273 3:17:14 1:48:36
724 278 05:10:32 ORTEGA JOHNV. CO M35-39 61/273 3:31:07 1:36:51
1257 284 05:11:19 PIERCE STEPHEN CO M40-44 43/201 3:13:38 1:55:09
187 309 05:13:25 KOCH KEVIN CO M25-29 41/138 3:22:36 1:48:11
976 331 05:16:16 YOUNG BILL CO M35-39 72/273 3:19:37 1:53:19
1778 368 05:19:29 MCCORMACK KIM CO W30-34 3/53 3:28:22 1:47:28
1318 372 05:20:29 BROWN BOB CO M45-49 26/119 3:12:43 2:05:22
998 373 05:20:30 HOPP DAVID CO M35-39 82/273 3:22:27 1:53:39
1256 385 05:21:37 NICKEL CORTD. CO M40-44 64/201 3:31:03 1:47:31
752 386 05:21:43 WENDT SEANG. CO M35-39 85/273 3:25:52 1:54:04
428 390 05:22:03 PIPER CHRIS CO M30-34 89/264 3:24:24 1:52:58
746 401 05:23:15 SPENCE CHRIS CO M35-39 88/273 3:23:34 1:52:08
193 426 05:25:22 LUTZ MICHAELJ. CO M25-29 56/138 3:33:20 1:49:20
1784 440 05:26:58 THAYER MICHELLE N. CO W30-34 6/53 3:36:00 1:46:11
1722 444 05:27:22 STOUT AIMEE A. CO W25-29 7/37 3:26:50 1:58:41
1295 450 05:27:47 KNEE DEREK L. CO M40-44 73/201 3:22:11 2:01:19
252 463 05:29:07 MAGOFFIN THOMAS CO CLY 60/138 3:37:31 1:49:35
615 467 05:29:41 HOLTON ANDREW CO M30-34 104/264 3:14:05 2:11:43
642 486 05:30:51 RICHARDSON JAY CO M30-34 108/264 3:17:55 2:11:14
1684 504 05:32:19 KEISLING GRETCHEN A. CO W25-29 8/37 3:30:17 1:59:53
552 512 05:32:48 LEDDEN WILLIAM J. CO M30-34 113/264 3:28:28 2:01:27
1012 539 05:35:29 PANICCIA JOE CO M35-39 118/273 3:25:19 2:06:52
1892 553 05:36:27 FOX ANNE H. CO W35-39 16/54 3:27:11 2:06:52
620 571 05:37:31 KING GREG CO M30-34 128/264 3:35:13 1:58:28
1933 579 05:38:42 O’DONNELL LYNN Y. CO W40-44 8/49 3:34:45 1:59:52
1066 593 05:40:12 HARTNETT KEVIN CO M40-44 88/201 3:48:38 1:47:52
1669 601 05:40:38 NICKERSON MOLLY CO W18-24 4/14 3:33:44 2:03:33
1191 603 05:40:45 METRO EDDIE CO M40-44 91/201 3:35:16 2:01:49
417 627 05:42:55 MCNEILL MICHAEL CO M30-34 138/264 3:26:25 2:11:25
1648 656 05:45:47 MURRAY WILLIAM B. CO M65-69 1/3 3:37:21 2:04:27
227 673 05:47:21 HOUGHTON KEVIN D. CO M25-29 88/138 3:34:08 2:09:55
1474 696 05:49:07 MCHUGH BRENDAN CO M45-49 52/119 3:49:50 1:53:50
1973 702 05:49:25 SHULMAN DEBORAH CO W45-49 3/23 3:43:56 1:59:30
174 705 05:49:35 HARPER BRYAN CO CLY 91/138 3:38:16 2:06:39
1674 722 05:51:10 HOHENSEE SAMANTHA CO W18-24 8/14 3:33:36 2:11:09
731 727 05:51:23 REINSCH KEVIN CO M35-39 157/273 3:23:30 2:24:26
1856 734 05:52:16 HOPP MARIA L. CO W35-39 27/54 3:46:08 2:03:09
301 753 05:53:37 VERSON JON CO M25-29 98/138 3:30:52 2:19:41
1960 761 05:54:19 BERNHARDT GALE CO W40-44 16/49 3:39:25 2:09:54
1970 762 05:54:21 NEALE SUSANN. CO W45-49 5/23 3:52:54 1:55:41
1944 766 05:54:24 MURPHY CAROL H. CO W40-44 18/49 3:42:33 2:05:45
511 812 05:59:06 SCHWARTZ BRIAN CO M30-34 63/264 3:44:47 2:08:19
1107 830 06:02:00 BIANCO ROBERTO CO M40-44 122/201 3:43:35 2:11:25
1456 861 06:04:47 VOGT LONNEY A. CO M45-49 70/119 3:45:24 2:12:07
1138 868 06:05:44 MATHEUS ALFREDO E. CO M40-44 125/201 3:48:28 2:08:14
1062 882 06:07:35 FISCH MICHAEL J. CO M40-44 129/201 3:40:02 2:22:26
1136 889 06:08:02 MARTIN WILLIAM C. CO M40-44 131/201 3:39:46 2:22:33
1212 912 06:11:02 WOZNIAK MARK S. CO M40-44 134/201 3:56:37 2:05:32
1800 975 06:16:16 RIEKENBERG JENNIFER CO W30-34 30/5 4:06:18 2:07:26
1229 1058 06:29:01 DYWAN NICHOLAS C. CO M40-44 160/201 3:58:24 2:24:18
1572 1064 06:30:04 LEAHY MIKE CO M50-54 33/59 3:27:06 3:00:50
1797 1082 06:32:03 MURNOCK LORRIE CO W30-34 36/53 3:58:36 2:29:34
1701 1110 06:35:43 KOCH SHANNON CO W25-29 22/37 4:01:04 2:30:51
1967 1130 06:37:45 HYRE PATTI A. CO W45-49 17/23 4:24:40 2:09:30
1983 1152 06:41:31 SLOAN CATHY S. CO W45-49 18/23 4:18:08 2:15:39
1752 1154 06:41:46 VAN METER ERIKA CO W30-34 39/53 3:56:32 2:38:45
1796 1165 06:43:56 MCNEILL JENNIFER C. CO W30-34 40/53 4:26:30 2:11:53
1582 1199 06:50:00 CALHOUN STEVEN D. CO M50-54 49/59 3:47:14 2:58:45
1720 1206 06:51:04 SMITH EMILY CO W25-29 27/37 3:59:40 2:47:47
2000 1224 06:53:10 HOFFMANN HEIDI CO W50-54 2/4 4:06:00 2:43:53
1948 1226 06:53:27 BURKE SUSANA. CO W40-44 39/49 4:03:32 2:47:03
2004 1231 06:54:00 ANDERSON CLARKE CO M30-34 241/264 4:10:28 2:36:50
1776 1256 06:58:29 KAHL-GEIGER STACEY L. CO W30-34 45/53 4:15:17 2:37:44
1931 1259 07:00:29 NICKEL EILEEN R. CO CLY 40/49 4:17:31 2:37:05
932 1269 07:05:43 CLASSEN DANIEL J. CO M35-39 246/273 4:12:51 2:45:44
788 1291 07:11:33 GEIGER ANTHONY E. CO M35-39 248/273 4:11:13 2:52:59
1982 1297 07:14:29 SCHUCKIES PAM CO W45-49 22/23 4:14:48 2:49:44
1655 1303 07:17:42 WHITNEY KEN CO M70-74 3/4 4:20:28 2:50:13
1790 1308 07:18:54 HOLTON LESLIE CO W30-34 48/53 4:11:18 3:03:32
1952 1318 07:23:19 MCKELVEY CHRIS CO W40-44 44/49 4:16:20 2:57:11
391 1358 07:49:51 GALLAGHER GORDON P. CO M30-34 256/264 3:42:46 3:58:32
482 1364 07:57:02 KOELLNER ROBERT W. CO M30-34 257/264 4:39:14 3:12:14
234 1372 08:23:58 MARTIN NICK CO M25-29 135/138 4:25:18 3:51:23
117 1381 DNF EAGAN MATTHEW CO M25-29 137/138 3:21:22
663 1391 DNF WOLD RODERICK J. CO M30-34 263/264 3:25:43
1714 1405 DNF GOTTSCHALL JINGER S. CO W25-29 36/37 3:17:41
44 1379 DNF ANDERSON ELIZABETH CO
