Gwen Kremer and Kristen Crouse, both Class of '08, along with Katherine Kellett (SCR) recently placed first in the women's relay division of the annual Long Beach Triathlon, an event that puts thousands of male and female athletes through a half-mile ocean swim, an 11-mile bicycle course, and a three-mile fast run.
Kremer, a member of the CMS swim team, swam the half-mile component of the race, while Crouse, a CMS track team athlete in the long jump, triple jump, and javelin throw events, ran the three-mile course, and Kellett, a sophomore at Scripps College, navigated the 11-mile bike ride along Shoreline Drive, Queensway Bridge, and past the Queen Mary.
"The bike and run courses were almost entirely next to the water, so it was a beautiful setting to compete in," says Kremer, who trained every day in the pool and competed in September's La Jolla Rough Water Swima one-mile ocean raceto train for the Long Beach event. (Read more about CMC's finish at La Jolla: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/news/pressreleases/article.asp?article_id=581).
Crouse says her own preparation for the race involved intense distance workouts incorporating weights.
Kremer says it was the team effort that led to the women's victory at last month's event. "We also had a lot of fun doing it," she said.
Each of the three women received a swim backpack and a medal at the end of the race.