Author: Joseph Sharp

Dear Outdoorsman Triathletes, Once again you have braved the raw elements of the Smoky Mountains to compete in the Nation’s Oldest Triathlon! As with most years, there is always something new to contend with. This year it was the great landslides of 2019 resulting in the additional challenge on the run. Lest you feel compelled Read More …

Hi Outdoorsman Triathletes, Thanks to all our volunteers (Sue Havens, Sue Dillery, Mary Garland, Paul Wolf, Jamie, Karla “Dog Whisperer” Havens, Scott Dillery, Keith Havens, Jim Ross, Kathleen “Dog Wrangler” McNamee, Zaak “Dog Mover” Havens, Dodge Havens, Jim Hall, Kade Havens and all those helping carry competitors’ canoes up the hill!) and our wonderful sponsors (The Outdoorsman Triathlon Charitable Read More …

Hi all, To those who braved the gas shortage and low water on the Little Tennessee (3rd lowest level over the 41 year period), the results from the 41st Outdoorsman Triathlon are now available at  https://outdoorsmantriathlon.org Race Results / 2016. A couple notable events at this year’s race included two of the Race Founders competing. Read More …

It just so happens the starting line of the oldest continuously running triathlon in the United States is a few kilometers from the doors of our school. This race has seen Olympic gold medal athletes, World Champion athletes, three generations of family participants… and me. In 1976 outdoorsman Payson Kennedy (founder of the Nantahala Outdoor Read More …

The Outdoorsman Triathlon is coming to the Little Tennessee River in Swain County this weekend, Sept. 25 and 26. The nation’s oldest continuous triathlon started in 1976, when outdoorsman Payson Kennedy, the founder of the Nantahala Outdoor Center, and Olympic canoeist John Burton, issued a challenge to athletes to come battle the raw elements of Read More …

Triathlon Today Magazine 12-89 Fall Outdoorsman By George Chalupa Bryson City, North Carolina (9/23-24) An innocent blue sky poised over the gorge on race morning. Little evidence remained of last night’s attempt by Hurricane Hugo to flatten the Carolinas. The ground was wet, the river was up, and trees along the ridges and gaps were Read More …

Triathletes in training Athletes conquer intramurals By Emily Thompson, Staff Writer “I was thinking, when the hell is this gonna be over,” Matthew Baran, South Lyon sophomore. “I almost threw up. There was a point where I almost stopped, but I kept thinking, I am going to finish this,” Katherine Svoke, Farmington Hills junior. “I Read More …

Outdoorsman Triathlon (29-30 Sept 2001) MAPA hosted the 26th Annual Outdoorsman Triathlon, the Nation’s oldest triathlon and considered one of the most grueling races for the distance, on September 29/30 in the Nantahala Gorge area of Western North Carolina. For the first time in the event’s history, the overall race championship was claimed by a Read More …

In a remote corner of western North Carolina is a valley gorge where athletes have been gathering for more than a quarter century to compete in the nation’s oldest triathlon, the Outdoorsman Triathlon. They come quietly to compete not for glory, money or endorsements, but to test themselves against the Smoky Mountains. There are no Read More …

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 Read More …

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Zane Havens, ’12, paddles to the finish line of the relay event.BRYSON CITY, N.C. The Albion College Canoe Club dominated the Outdoorsman Triathlon contested Sept. 24-25 near the Smokey Mountains. The top four individuals in the college men’s division and the top three in the women’s division were Albion students. Zane Read More …

Zane Havens, a 2008 Albion High School graduate, captured the men’s individual event and was part of the runner-up relay team for the Albion College Canoe Club at the Outdoorsman Triathlon in Bryson City, N.C., on Sept. 23-24. The triathlon included a 1-mile swim, 4-mile run and an 8-mile paddle through the Little Tennessee River. Read More …

The Middle-Atlantic Paddlers Association, sparked by Gloucester County’s Lyle Varnell, dominated the competition at the nation’s oldest triathlon in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina recently. Varnell, a 32-year-old marine scientist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gloucester Point, finished fifth in the prestigious Nantahala Outdoorsman Triathlon. “It was quite an experience for Read More …

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, 4-mile run and an 8-mile paddle down the Little Tennessee River. The SCC faculty team of Paul Wolf, Read More …

Bruce Hartzler, a former William and Mary swimmer who now resides in Washington D.C., recently took first place in one of the oldest triathlons in the United States – the 15th annual Nantahala outdoorsman Triathlon in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. Hartzler won with a time of 2:07.30. Teammate Kirk Havens, a marine scientist Read More …