Nickel finishes ninth at Dallas triathlon
Goessel native masters 32-mile course
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
Kevin Nickel of Newton competed Oct. 14 in the Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon in Dallas, Texas.
The Goessel High School graduate finished the 32-mile course in one hour, 59.46 minutes.
The grueling course began with a 1500-meter swim in Joe Pool Lake in the western part of Dallas.
"I knew I was doing better than previous triathlons," Nickel said, "because I was staying close to the lead swimmers."
Nickel came out of the water in 20th in his division with a time of 22:31.
The transition area next to the lake is where Nickel removed his long sleeve wet suit and donned his special bicycle helmet to begin the 40-km (25 mile) part of the race on bicycle.
Riding toward downtown Dallas, the 26-year-old sailed along with a gentle south breeze, averaging nearly 26 mph on his racing bike, finishing that segment of the race in fifth place with at time of 58:13.
"I could not enjoy the view because I had to concentrate on the road in front of me," Nickel said. "The streets were pretty rough in spots."
Nickel transitioned by removing his biking helmet and changing into his running shoes and visor.
In less than a minute, Nickel was off the bicycle and out on the running part of the course, navigating the 10-km (6.2 mile) route through downtown Dallas.
Nickel has averaged about a six-minute mile after biking for 26.
The route included two loops starting and ending at Reunion Arena. Nickel finished the run averaging 5.9 minutes per mile and ending the endurance event in less than two hours.
A 1999 graduate of GHS, Nickel competed in cross country and track during his high school career.
He graduated from Tabor College in 2003 and also competed for the Bluejays in both sports.
Nickel turned his attention to multi-sport events (running, biking, swimming) since college, competing in a number of triathlons in the past two years.
He is employed at Pinnacle Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics in Hutchinson where he leads a sports performance program for anyone wanting to improve his or her strength or agility.
The U.S. Open triathlon was divided into age groups for most of the 1,200 runners, but a few of the faster runners competed in two upper divisions.
Twenty men competed in the professional division.
Nickel was among 37 men in the elite amateur division.
He was ninth in his division, just 15 minutes behind the fastest professional in the race.
