Fries winner of Nautical City sprint triathlon
Derrick Fries, 63, a resident of Cedarville and Clarkston, took first place in the Nautical City Sprint Triathlon Saturday. He covered the distance in 1 hour 13 minutes and 59 seconds.
He called the swim “beautiful” and said the bike route “was the smoothest” of any triathlon he had competed in. He said the entire course was the most beautiful of any he had run. Temperatures were around 60 degrees Fahrenheit at the start and Lake Huron has barely a ripple of a wave as the athletes dove in for the first leg.
For Fries, it was his 12th triathlon this year. He won national titles in his age group in both 2013 and 2015.
Athletes swan 800 meters from near the Little League Fields to the Lakeside Park beach area then biked 14 miles along Lake Huron back to the transition zone at Lakeside Park. They concluded the event with a 5K run which finished back at Lakeside Park.
More details will be in the Sept. 8 Advance.