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NEWS
133
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009
THE UNIW
WEDNES
STUDE COMPI IRONM
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
Above: After exiting Clinton Lake and jogging to the bicycle transition area, Doug Zimmerman, Kansas City senior, pauses to place contact lenses in his eyes before stripping out of his wetsuit and mounting his bicycle for the second phase of the 70.3 mile race. Right: Australian triathlete Luke Bell applauds the crowd and event staff as he nears the finish line at Sunday's Ironman triathlon at Clinton Lake. Bell won the event, completing the 70.3 mile race in less than three hours and 50 minutes.
For one KU junior, the race meant com
BY KRISTEN LISZEWSKI kliszewski@kansan.com
At 20 years old, John McGreevy completed his 17th triathlon Sunday morning. McGreevy, Wichita junior, swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles and ran 13.1 miles at the Ironman 70.3 Kansas triathlon at Clinton State Park.
The triathlon had 2,000 participants, including 2008 world champion Chrisie Wellington from the U.K. who won the women's title with a time of 04:14:52, and professional triathlete Luke Bell from Australia who won the men's title with a time of 03:49:35.
McGreevy finished the Ironman 70.3 Series, which is half the distance of the full Ironman, with an overall time of 05:12:41. He said he was pleased with his performance that day because he surpassed his time from last year's triathlon by 35 minutes.
McGreevy said triathlons had been a part of his family's life since he was
a young boy. He followed in his older sister's footsteps and participated in his first IronKids Wichita competition, a 2.3 mile event for his age group, when he was seven years old. He participated in IronKids every year until he turned 13, when he completed a 10.2 mile triathlon. McGreevey said he stayed active in high school by running track and swimming. He also competed in local triathlons, sometimes three in a single summer.
"I feel lucky to have stumbled on triathlons when I was younger," McGreevy said. "I've been running and swimming competitively since I was six, so it comes naturally."
McGreevy competed in his first Ironman 70.3 in 2008, which was the first Ironman event to be held in Kansas. He said he planned to continue participating, especially if the Ironman 70.3 kept returning to Kansas.
"As long as it continues to draw a large number of people, there's no reason why
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