The Texas A&M Triathlon team expects roughly 100 athletes from the South Midwest Collegiate Conference to be competing at the TAMU Time Trial on March 5 at Lick Creek Park.
Athletes will time their 750-meter swim on their own. Beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, competitors will start the 12.4-mile bike ride in 10-second increments based on fastest to slowest swim times. Racers will also complete a 5K run.
During a typical race all three sports are consecutive, but this race is unique because all the lakes and rivers in the area are too cold to swim in right now, said health junior Kaitlin Bowman, race coordinator for the A&M Triathlon team.
“It’s a good chance to get some race practice in before the season really kicks off,” Bowman said.
Health senior team President Liam Ballon said he has high hopes and wants the group to perform well against the teams from A&M’s conference that are coming into town for the race.
“We’re the ones hosting,” Ballon said. “You always want to be proud of your efforts when it’s your event.”
The team has a lot of returning members who are expected to perform well, but there are a lot of new faces as well. Reed Mulloy, aerospace engineer junior and team vice president, said the newcomers are pretty nervous about running in their first collegiate triathlon.
“I know they’ll all do great,” Mulloy said.
The team focuses on shorter sprint distances and Olympic-style races rather than the long-distance “Ironman” most people think of, Mulloy said. The team is open to newcomers.
“We welcome everybody to join the team; everyone is super friendly,” said Mulloy.
For more information, visit TamuTriathlon.com or follow the team @aggie_tri on Instagram.
“We’re here. We’re proud to represent this university,” said Ballon. “We’d love for anybody interested to reach out and get involved!”
Logan Tamplin is a recreation, park and tourism sciences junior, and contributed this article from JOUR 359 Reporting Sports to The Battalion.