Islander Aquathon Draws Nearly 200 Racers

Luther Burbank Park was humming on Saturday, July 28 as nearly 200 participants took park in the USA Triathlon (USAT) Aquathon National Championship and kids race.

A USAT sanctioned event, the national championship-distance race began with a 1500-meter swim out and back in the East Channel of Lake Washington and a 10-kilometer circuit run through Luther Burbank Park. Dozens of racers took part in a short-course race with a 750m swim and a 5k run.

In the championship race, South Carolina 16-year-old Brent Demarest of James Island, South Carolina finished with the fastest individual time of 56 minutes and 42.7 seconds, followed by Snohomish resident Matt Koenigs, 32, at 57 minutes and 24.4 seconds. Seafair Triathalon winner and finished third at 1 hour and 4 seconds.

Tacoma triathlete Alycia Hill was the fastest woman on the course at 1 hour, 2 minutes and 59 seconds.

The fastest overall time in the national championship diastance was posted by relay team Vo2 Max, at 56 minutes, 3.4 seconds.

In the short course, 55-year-old Debbie Lavery finished with the fastest time overall in 38 minutes, 3.4 seconds, followed by Heidi Hutchison at 39 minutes, 27.7 seconds.

At age 74, Gig Harbor resident Al Weaver was the oldest racer in the field and was joined by his 13-year-old grandson Matthew Fisher and around 10 other seniors in his age bracket at the race. He was the final racer to cross the finish line, but still enjoyed the competition.

"There are a lot of 70-year-old runners out there," he said before the race. "I can out-swim ‘em!"

The race was organized and directed by Porter Bratten of BTO Multisports, with volunteer support from Vo2 Multisport, a Redmond-based competitive racing club.

(Ed. Note: The original version of this story misidentified Brent Demarest in a photo caption and the correct photo of Demarest was added. Mercer Island Patch regrets the error.)