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City of La Grande triathlon continues to grow
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 SPRINT TO THE FINISH: A runner heads towardthe finish line during the triathlon hosted by the city of La Grande. The Observer/CASEY KELLAS Fifty-four athletes from around the area competed in the event, along with five teams. That number is up from the 34 individuals that competed in last year’s race. Michael Rushton of Baker City won the men’s heat with a total time of 1:02:09. This year’s race consisted of a 500-yard swim, followed by a 12 1⁄2-mile bike ride. A 3.2-mile run finished off the race.Leading the way in the women’s division was Mary Ellen LaBerge of La Grande, with a time of 1:16:39. LaBerge finished a mere 16 seconds ahead of the next closest competitor, Kristen Rushton of Baker City. The bike course was different from last year’s race, making the transitions a little easier according to the event coordinator, Joe Andrews. "I think this year’s race went very well,” he said. “Overall it was a much smoother race than last year.” The thing that made the race more of a success this year was the increase in competition. “We had a wide range of competitors from all around the area,” Andrews said. “If we get more contestants next year like we hope to do, then we will have to make some more changes to the course perhaps.” Those changes would most likely take place on the bike course, where the athletes are the most congested during the race. All proceeds of the event are going to free swim lessons for kids. Andrews said the lessons will start in October. “We know times are tough around here for a lot of people. We want to try and help people however we can,” he added. Registration for the free lessons will start sometime in September. More information can be found by stopping by Veterans Memorial Pool. Another added benefit of the race is the website www.lgtri.org. Andrews launched the web site with the hopes of getting more information out to more people in a quicker way. “I think we had a lot of people find out about this year’s race because of the website,” Andrews said. “We are going to make some improvements to better the site and have regular updates and results posted frequently.” As for next year’s race, Andrews hopes to have it in conjunction with the Crossing the Blues Festival.
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