Competitors make their way into Lake Huron at the start of Saturday's Lexington Triathlon. Over 130 athletes of all ages, many from the Sanilac area, took part in the first-time event. (Photo by Joe Crawford)

Approximately 130 competitors made the inaugural event a special one this past Saturday morning.

Race directors Dennis and Sheila Klaas and Peggy Regan, all of Lexington, were simply trying to sell physical fitness to anyone interested with this thought of a triathlon, which combines swimming, biking and running.

"The thing we really wanted to do with this was inspire fitness in the community," explained Regan, a coach and teacher at Cros-Lex High School. "And, we had people come up to us and say "I really think I can do this'. That's what we want - people getting excited about it."

The 'sprint' triathlon, which consists of a 1/2 mile swim, 11 mile bike race, and a 5K run, had 106 competitors that started in the water, including 83 individual contestants. There were also 17 full teams competing.

The overall winner was Peter Ludwig, age 45, from Michigan (hometown not recorded) in a time of 1:07.32. The top female finisher was Katie Miller, 22, of Port Huron, in 1:18.10.

Locally, Taylor Kasper, a junior-to-be at Cros-Lex, had the sixth best time of the day, completing the three events in 1:15.28. He finished first in the male 1-19 year-old age group. Louis Williams, 25, Snover, and a teacher in Sandusky, won the men's 25-29 age group with a time of 1:15.43 and was seventh overall among all triathlon athletes.

On the female side, Kim Ehardt, 20, Lexington, was the top Sanilac County finisher, and seventh overall, in a time of 1:36.48. Fifteen-year-old Kaitlyn Quinn, of Lexington, who also attends Cros-Lex High, was first in the 1-19 age group in 1:38.08.

The event did more than meet expectations.

"It exceeded it," proclaimed Regan. "Actually, at one point, with 50, we would have been thrilled with. We're very pleased."

Regan also said it was a fabulous showing by the local entries, mostly novices to the grueling sport.

"Just about anybody, locally, that competed pretty much was new to this. There were some people out of race clubs that were in it. But, like Taylor Kasper, who never did it before, he was fantastic."

There were some concerns for the event directors, but most of those were alleviated by the great number of volunteers.

"There are some things we'll tweak, but for the most part, this went perfectly." Regan then pointed toward the help from the Sanilac County Sheriff's Department. "We were really worried about the water, but we had a ton of help. Ed Jarosz from the Sheriff's Department headed that up and had a lot of people in the water (for safety purposes). And, he also had Sheriff's help along the whole route."

Not all of the team results were available, but Regan pointed out that a local team, led by Marcus Munger of Lexington, was the overall winner.

The Lexington Triathlon will now look ahead to next summer, with plans on another July date. The tentative date for next year is Saturday, July 25. "At this point," noted Regan, "we're going to try to run the same weekend. We'll see how many other races are on the same date."

The triathlon was also a fund-raiser for Cros-Lex athletics. Regan said some money will go towards getting the next triathlon on the way, but the bulk of the $2,500 netted from the event will go to the school's weight room this year.