Ledges to The Lake Adventure Triathlon

Hinckley Ohio

7th overall and 2nd in 45-54 age division

Finish time: 1:19:00

Race Review

This was the 5th year that the Cleveland Metroparks hosted the Ledges To The Lake Adventure Triathlon At Hinckley Lake Park. The race consists of a 3.5 mile run, 2 mile kayak, and 9 mile bike. This year’s race conditions were not ideal. Heavy rains made this short but challenging course even harder. Temperatures were in the high 60’s at race start with mild winds. The run course is a combination of dirt trails and paved trails starting at the spillway and ending at the boathouse. The course is challenging and technical especially this year as the heavy rains made the rolling hills of the dirt trails very muddy and slippery. The kayak leg of the race is 1 1/2 laps around the lake. I was challenged this year as I had a rudder issue and found it very difficult to steer my boat and stay on a straight line with the winds and rain pushing off course. The bike course is 3 laps around the park on the paved roads. This bike course is hilly on the front side with several faster downhill sections on the back side. The rains finally stopped as most of the participants started the bike leg making it much safer and more enjoyable. Cleveland Metroparks did a nice job organizing the race. They still have a few quirks and bugs to workout. They only give first place overall awards and I would recommend awarding 1st – 3rd place overall winners and then age groups. They did extend age group awards this year to 3rd place and awarded participants that have raced in all 5 years of the event. The age groups are a bit funky as well and I would recommend the standard 10 years per age group. I competed in a 45-54 year age group which is a little bit out of the normal for these types of races. Other than the weather this was a great race that I look forward to competing in again next year.