Lindsey lands spot on national triathlon team

In mid-June, Douglas High graduate Andrea Lindsey traveled to Sacramento to compete in the Tri-4-Fun sprint triathlon - a jaunt that covered just over half a mile in the water, 16 miles on a bike and 3.3 miles on foot.

A month later, the 19-year-old has found a spot on Team USA for the International Triathlon Union Age Group World Championships in Hamburg, Germany in September.

"These last couple of weeks have really been a whirlwind," Lindsey said. "It was all very unexpected. I've never really trained for triathlons, but I like biking, running and swimming.

"I've done short triathlons for the last three years and I did some local things when I was little, but this year I wanted to buckle down and do some of these bigger events because they are fun for me. This all really came out of nowhere though."

Upon completing the Sacramento sprint triathlon, Lindsey was informed that her time was good enough to compete in the Olympic (or short course) Distance National Championships in Portland just two weeks later.

The race consisted of 1,100 competitors from 48 states. The top 16 finishers from each group would earn a spot in the Hamburg age-group world championships and the top eight would clinch a berth in the 2008 ITU World Championships in Vancouver, Canada next June.

"I'd never competed in Olympic distance (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run), so it was a learning experience," Lindsey said. "My biggest goal was just to finish the race without being disqualified."

She did that and a little more.

Her time of 2 hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds was good enough for eighth in the 16-19 age group, punching herticket into both world championship events. She was approximately 13 minutes out of first place, but keep in mind she was dealing with a couple new things.

"There were a lot of firsts for me out there," she said. "I'd just bought a wet suit so it was my first time racing with a wet suit and that took some time to figure out. I'd just put an aerobar on my bike, which I think you need some practice with before you can be effective with it. I was very happy with how things went."

She'll certainly have a high up-side heading into the world championships.

Her time of 23:08 in the 1.5K swim put her in fourth, but her first time navigating the change out of her wet suit and into her biking clothing took 2 minutes and 37 seconds - over a minute more than any of the seven finishers above her in the final standings. She then struggled in the bike portion with a time of 1:22:04 on the 40K course - 11th out of 13 competitors in her age group.

"The bike is the toughest portion for me because I've been swimming all my life and I ran cross country in high school, but I've never really been competitive on the bike," Lindsey said.

Lindsey recovered in the run, covering 10K in 46:37, which was good enough for fourth in the group.

"It was pretty intimidating being there," she said. "Fifteen percent of the competitors there were past or present Olympians."

She said she'll probably pass on the Hamburg event unless she is able to raise the money to make the trip, but she's locked into competing in the world championship in Vancouver in June.

"I'm going to keep doing what I have been doing in terms of keeping in shape, but I'll probably start doing some longer rides on the bike and do some weight lifting.

"Now that I have a wet suit, I'll go up to the Lake and swim a course that is set up there."

She also plans to compete in a couple more triathlons (both sprint and Olympic distance) this summer.

"They (the two distances) are too different to really compare," she said. "I guess my preference changes based on what mood I'm in.

"Sprint takes me and hour and a half and Olympic took me 2:35, so the endurance factor is totally different. My body seemed to recover better after the Olympic, so that was nice."

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.