Thursday, 13 October 2011
From left, Southwestern Community College Outdoor Leadership faculty team Jimmy Leithauser, Paul Wolf and Stephan Hart won the Men’s Master division in the 36th Annual Outdoorsman Triathlon, the nation’s oldest continuous triathlon.
Students and faculty of Southwestern Community College’s Outdoor Leadership program placed in the 36th Annual Outdoorsman Triathlon held near Bryson City recently. The Outdoorsman Triathlon is the nation’s oldest continuous triathlon and consists of a 1-mile swim, four-mile run and an eight-mile paddle down the Little Tennessee River.The SCC faculty team of Paul Wolf, Stephan Hart and Jimmy Leithauser won the Men’s Master division. “But more importantly, we beat out all four of the student SCC teams to win this year’s bragging rights in the annual faculty versus students unofficial contest,” said ODL instructor Wolf.
Student teams were there to compete in the First Citizen’s Bank Collegiate Challenge relay where coed college teams faced off for prize money for the top four placing teams. Winning first and second place in the Collegiate Challenge Relay were two teams from Michigan’s Albion College. The SCC Outdoor Club team of Nicole Harris, Randy Kasper and Matt Cooke finished third among the college teams with their classmates of Jamy Suminski, J.T. Rhoads and Dylan Coward placing fourth. Also competing for SCC was Julia Belo, Emma Luebs, Lindsey Cardamone, Seth O’Shields, and Rick Snider.
The Outdoorsman Triathlon is held each year on the last weekend of September and was founded by John Burton, Payson Kennedy and Russ Callen. Paddler Magazine described the event as “one of the nation’s top multisport races.”