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10k | Personal Bests | Wildflower and Donner History

 

 

Goals for 2025 

 

Treeathlon
Sunday, March 2nd 2025
2nd AG/35th overall
Results |
Strava: Swim | Bike | Run

Men

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bib

Name

Swim

T1

Bike

T2

Run

Chip Elapsed

Div Place

Age

Age Place

Gender

Gender Place

434

JIMMY SOPKO

0:08:34

0:01:49

0:27:58

0:01:21

0:18:33

0:58:18

2

43

1

M

1

426

TIM SHEEPER

0:08:24

0:01:26

0:28:47

0:00:52

0:22:33

1:02:05

5

61

1

M

4

333

LENNARD HACHMANN

0:09:52

0:01:37

0:31:41

0:00:53

0:19:33

1:03:39

7

48

2

M

6

279

SHANE ARTERS

0:08:44

0:01:32

0:31:37

0:02:07

0:21:48

1:05:50

12

56

1

M

10

419

GUNNAR ROLL

0:09:01

0:01:05

0:33:07

0:00:56

0:23:18

1:07:28

15

60

2

M

13

444

DR. JIM TAYLOR

0:10:50

0:01:17

0:32:05

0:02:23

0:22:00

1:08:37

18

66

1

M

16

386

TWAIN MEIN

0:11:22

0:01:59

0:32:22

0:01:48

0:24:22

1:11:55

35

58

2

M

28

410

CARSTEN PULS

0:11:28

0:01:08

0:33:18

0:01:10

0:24:51

1:11:56

36

55

3

M

29

420

JOHN ROLLINS

0:11:51

0:02:24

0:32:29

0:01:29

0:23:47

1:12:02

37

54

1

M

30

412

ERIK RAGATZ

0:10:15

0:02:51

0:37:00

0:01:35

0:23:17

1:14:50

53

52

3

M

45

309

PETER DELAHUNT

0:10:35

0:01:22

0:36:16

0:01:19

0:23:36

1:13:10

44

61

3

M

37

325

DAVID GILDEA

0:11:46

0:04:39

0:41:53

0:02:36

0:45:31

1:46:26

194

81

1

M

147

382

DAVE MANDELKERN

0:18:17

0:08:10

0:44:49

0:04:01

0:39:09

1:54:28

198

65

6

M

150

Women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

480

SARAH KLETZER

0:08:10

0:01:37

0:32:59

0:01:54

0:26:15

1:10:57

30

32

2

F

5

507

JENNIFER ROOST

0:10:34

0:02:01

0:33:34

0:01:04

0:24:09

1:11:25

33

50

1

F

6

495

SINDA MEIN

0:13:19

0:02:56

0:32:02

0:01:46

0:25:21

1:15:26

55

56

1

F

9

494

LILY MEIN

0:12:55

0:04:58

0:41:53

0:01:05

0:30:16

1:31:10

136

22

1

F

28

462

ANN BURTON

0:15:05

0:03:23

0:41:09

0:02:04

0:34:39

1:36:22

162

73

1

F

35

Relay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

523

Team Wiggly

0:13:24

0:00:50

0:35:50

0:00:34

0:28:55

1:19:36

1

18

0

T

0

Race recap:

For those of you who are used to my long-windedness, perhaps you will find this entertaining.
Put another way, getting old sucks!

Treeathlon 2025, March 2nd.
It is always remarkable how this little sprint distance triathlon is always memorable.
The strongest older athletes seem to converge here on this early season race and the weather is always unpredictable including when it was hailing back in 2017.
I wasn’t expecting too much competition in my age group as, thankfully, most of my AG competitors have aged up. But at packet pick up I saw Shane Arters. Holy cow, he was ranked first in the nation in my age group back in 2015; I was 49th!

On to race day; it was a family affair.
My youngest, Maggie (18), was doing a relay with her cousin Willa and Maggie’s friend Lily G; swim-bike-run order. My oldest, Lily (22), was doing the full race. And sister Sinda and Team Sheeper team-mates were racing as well. Parking was supposedly very limited so we tried to get there early. Got in my wife’s car and it was out of gas! F! Stopped and put in two gallons then continued on. At the parking lot, the spaces were tiny; I couldn’t fit in to one spot. Found another spot but had to have Lily guide me in. Why is it that on race day there are always extra stressors?
On to transition. I had just purchased a new race belt and fiddled with it the night before. Guess what? I forgot to pack it! I went to the race director to see if I could get a new one. Fortunately he said it didn’t really matter and I could race without it. Again, extra stressors. At the bike racks it was chaotic as per normal. Of course, this race seemed to have fewer racks than needed so stuff was just crammed in. I saw my nemesis, Shane, and went over to talk with him. He seemed really out of sorts, almost acting like a newbie. Apparently he had a recent hip replacement. Not only that but he was on his road bike – said he sold his tri bike. WTH? Also present was Jimmy Sopko, my team mate. He had won it overall a few years ago and was looking to repeat. Tim Sheeper, my coach, hauled in to transition just as it was being closed down. There were other Team Sheeper athletes as well; it gave it a very homey feeling.

The transition closed at 10:45 but my old man wave wouldn’t go off until 11:50.
Sinda and the girls would go at 12:10. So we killed time trying to stay warm and did some stretching. It was windy and cold.

On to the water start.
Apparently the swim was shortened from 750 meters to 500 due to cold water and the wind and previous rain. I have been having problems with panic and hypoxia for the past few tri swims; I think I have gained weight and my “high performance” wet suit is really tight in the chest. So I bought a new one that was slightly larger. Game changing! (First race with new, looser fitting Zoot wet suit).Gun went off – the water was supposed to be 57 degrees. It was cold but not staggering. I haven’t been swimming a lot but focused on calm breathing and even strokes. I guess there was a current and I found myself drifting to the left; had to fight to the right to get around the turn buoy. On the way back it was really difficult to site. Again, oddly, I drifted to the left on the way back; a kayaker yelled at me to go to the right. Near the finish I noticed an animal’s head bobbing; “Oh there’s a dog in the water” I thought – sea lion. Bottom line – I used to be a pretty fast swimmer. Today it was about finishing without panic. Came out in 11:22, around 2min/100 yard pace; pathetic! Tim, Jimmy, Shane and Gunnar all finished in less than 9 minutes. Damn.

On to the bike.
Holy F, it was windy with big gusts. The day before I went for a ride and it was gusty – so I changed my front wheel from a 60mm deep to a 45mm. No way was I going to ride a disc in back, either. The bike was traumatic! Even with the shallower front wheel, the gusts were blowing us all over. Even Tim was riding in the drops. There was cross and front wind; very little tail wind. I was surprised that my heart rate was averaging about 170 while my speed was just over 20mph. Incredibly, MY SISTER had a quicker bike split (20 seconds). She says her experience at Kona makes her more immune to the winds. In any case, finally finished. Impressively, I could see Jimmy and Tim duking it out on the bike; they were hauling ass. Jimmy seemed to pass Tim by the final lap.

On to the run.
I haven’t been running a lot for the past two years so I stumbled out at around 8 pace. Dave LeRoy was there taking pictures and he said “Gunnar is just up ahead!”. I tried to increase the pace but THE WIND was ferocious. I actually thought I was going to trip because of it. At the turnaround I spotted another team-member, John Rollins. Holy S, he was closing in on me! Finally crossed the line; John was just 7 sec back and the next guy in my age group was just 1 second behind. I never caught Gunnar; he got me by about 4 mins.

Results.
So Shane did get first in the age group, new hip and all. I got second.
- Sister Sinda got first AG. -
Lily got first AG. -
Maggie, Willa, and Lily G got first in the female relay
- Jimmy got 1st overall
- Tim got 3rd overall, #1 AG - Gunnar was 2nd AG
- Other team mates ; Lennard Hachmann-2nd AG, John Rollins-1st AG, Ann Burton-1st AG (73 years old with 2 knee replacements), Dave Gildea-1st AG (81 years old). Jenny Roost got 1st AG (50) and ACTUALLY BEAT ME by 30 seconds. *sigh*.

Anyhow an epic day of goodness with some rough conditions to add to the mix.
I gotta start running more…
All the best to fellow triathletes! - Twain

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Wildflower Triathlon
May 3&4 2025
1st AG/7th overall
photos from Gary | Flickr | Results

Strava: Swim | Bike | Run

Mountain Bike Tri

Name

Gender

Age

Class

Class Rank

Time

AG plzce

Gender

Swim plc

Swim Time

Pace

T2

Bike Plc

Time

Pace

T2

Run Time

Pace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1531

Murray, Ian

M

57

M55-59

1

1:10:13

1

1

3

0:05:55

0:01:28

0:01:38

1

0:46:00

11.1

0:00:53

0:15:47

0:07:53

1508

Stepp, Derrill

M

63

M60-64

14

1:23:27

1

12

44

0:08:41

0:02:09

0:03:06

7

0:50:59

10

0:01:49

0:18:52

0:09:26

Olympic Tri

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

957

Thralls, Logan

M

24

M20-24

1

2:05:49

1

1

8

0:22:15

0:01:29

0:01:44

4

1:08:16

21.7

0:00:43

0:32:51

0:05:18

1062

Roos, Andrew

M

40

M40-44

2

2:11:19

1

2

1

0:19:27

0:01:17

0:01:33

8

1:11:45

20.7

0:01:32

0:37:02

0:05:58

890

Jordan, Kyle

M

35

M35-39

3

2:14:03

1

3

61

0:27:00

0:01:48

0:01:50

6

1:09:42

21.3

0:00:34

0:34:57

0:05:38

1123

Profumo, Stefano

M

47

M45-49

4

2:16:39

1

4

37

0:25:31

0:01:42

0:01:59

3

1:07:33

22

0:00:58

0:40:38

0:06:33

1083

Campbell, Jenna

F

28

F25-29

5

2:19:21

1

1

6

0:20:16

0:01:21

0:01:54

11

1:12:50

20.4

0:01:33

0:42:48

0:06:54

1086

Gokcek, Ahmet

M

58

M55-59

6

2:23:25

1

5

56

0:26:45

0:01:47

0:01:40

13

1:13:25

20.2

0:01:16

0:40:19

0:06:30

732

Sheeper, Tim

M

62

M60-64

7

2:23:39

1

6

11

0:22:49

0:01:31

0:02:22

7

1:11:03

20.9

0:01:26

0:45:59

0:07:25

1037

Weiler, Thornton

M

60

M60-64

17

2:38:39

2

16

39

0:25:36

0:01:42

0:03:21

26

1:19:07

18.8

0:02:12

0:48:23

0:07:48

1026

Cote, Mark

M

40

M40-44

28

2:44:51

4

24

66

0:27:18

0:01:49

0:02:39

42

1:22:18

18

0:01:42

0:50:54

0:08:13

807

So, Chang

M

53

M50-54

32

2:45:21

3

27

197

0:33:35

0:02:14

0:03:24

45

1:22:54

17.9

0:01:31

0:43:57

0:07:05

1002

Mein, Sinda

F

57

F55-59

78

2:58:38

3

18

161

0:31:53

0:02:07

0:03:18

80

1:28:24

16.8

0:02:23

0:52:40

0:08:30

1126

Wiltens, Jim

M

76

M75-79

203

3:34:03

1

137

101

0:29:15

0:01:57

0:06:58

227

1:42:19

14.5

0:03:28

1:12:03

0:11:37

Sprint Tri

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1619

Levenson, David

M

42

M40-44

1

1:09:22

1

1

19

0:07:25

0:00:23

0:02:33

1

0:37:09

20.3

0:01:57

0:20:18

0:06:33

1646

Buenting, Mike

M

51

M50-54

2

1:11:43

1

2

16

0:06:45

0:00:20

0:02:17

2

0:40:28

18.5

0:01:29

0:20:44

0:06:41

1618

Levenson, Nicole

F

40

Open

 

1:13:14

 

 

 

0:06:35

 

0:02:29

 

0:41:14

18.3

0:01:25

0:21:31

0:06:56

1581

Black, Charlie

M

20

M20-24

3

1:13:42

1

3

1

0:05:42

0:00:17

0:01:53

3

0:42:19

17.9

0:01:26

0:22:22

0:07:13

1566

Dupont, Theo

M

15

M13-15

4

1:13:59

1

4

8

0:06:24

0:00:19

0:02:31

6

0:43:28

17.2

0:00:47

0:20:49

0:06:43

1462

Lahna, Mohamed

M

43

M40-44

5

1:17:23

2

5

9

0:06:26

0:00:19

0:02:23

4

0:43:07

17.4

0:01:11

0:24:16

0:07:50

44.5

Blair, Jimmy

M

46

M45-49

6

1:20:31

1

6

38

0:08:28

0:00:26

0:03:00

8

0:44:38

16.9

0:01:29

0:22:56

0:07:24

1507

Mein, Twain

M

59

M55-59

7

1:20:34

1

7

18

0:07:03

0:00:21

0:02:52

5

0:43:17

17.3

0:01:39

0:25:43

0:08:18

1505

Dworkin, Jimmy

M

58

M55-59

12

1:22:47

2

12

12

0:06:32

0:00:20

0:03:24

9

0:44:38

16.9

0:01:26

0:26:47

0:08:38

1403

Burton, Ann

F

74

F70-74

74

1:45:52

1

25

71

0:09:37

0:00:29

0:03:49

58

0:55:10

13.6

0:02:25

0:34:51

0:11:15

What a great event; the race had been dormant since 2018. Awesome to camp with Derrill, Larry, Chang, Gary and good old Jack. Great Team Sheeper representation. Super cool meeting Dan Empfield and Mark Montgomery, founders of Slowtwitch. Chatting with Whit Raymond, Julie Moss and Mark Allen. Cool to see Andrew Roos getting 2nd overall at age 40 and Thornton smiling as per usual.

Key learning - the looser wet suit makes for a much more comfortable race. And using a road bike on this course was much safer and more comfortable feeling. This is the first race in 2 years that I felt "in control" through all phases.

Summary to Emilio Desoto:
Emilio, it was so freakin' awesome.

In the festival area, there were two dudes selling old tri stuff; turns out it was Dan Empfield and Monty! Got to meet and chat with them for quite a while. It was also awesome to see Mark Allen (who by some weird coincidence I run in to in Santa Cruz). Terry was warm and not hurried for conversation as per normal and his daughter gave an awesome speech of thankfulness to have the privilege to put this event on; it was quite moving. The Star Spangled Banner was particularly impactful given these times; talk about chills. And Whit Raymond and Jule Moss did their typically outstanding announcing with such energy for each and every participant.
The water was remarkably clean (didn't smell), a great temp and the res is 70%+ full. The weather was great; didn't get too cold at night but not as typically hot during the day.
My coach, Tim Sheeper, also showed up and dominated (7th overall in the Oly, frickin 62 yrs old). And the guy who I remember as the college phenom, Andrew Roos, is now 40 years old (!). He placed 2nd overall in the Oly; amazing.
Personally I've done this nearly every year since 1990 (Tim since '83!). My buddies and I typically camp and it is an epic reunion. The Boston Globe actually did a story about my friend Brian who would come out from Mass every year to camp and race; I'd loan him a bike and set up a tent and sleeping bag for him. He'd come in on a Friday, drive down from SFO then haul ass back on Sunday. When that article was written we partied with the author and her friends at our camp site; it was quite memorable.

I actually have to thank you for prompting this question.
After nearly a week you sort of helped me think through the awesomeness and how rare and special events like this are.

Hope to see you there next year.

PS: about the roads. Not bueno. I did the Sprint and chose to ride my road bike instead. Maybe not faster but I felt a lot more confident and probably because of it I was able to win the AG. And the general store has been closed for year. Woodpeckers are making holes in the siding.
And 1600 participants.

The only bummer is the road was closed until 3PM on both days. And the awards ceremony for the Oly wasn’t until 4PM on Sunday. That needs to be tightened up

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Donner Lake Sprint
Saturday, July 26, 2025
1st AG/32 overall
Results |Photos
Strava:: Swim | Bike |Run

So my oldest, Lily (23), wanted to do a tri this Summer. Meanwhile Maggie (18, 19 in Dec) is about to go off to college.

We had this narrow window of time but they both wanted to do the Donner Lake Tri sprint. Both had done the kid's version before. I was sort of bummed because the old sprint had the challenging climb up Donner Pass road; this year it was a flat out and back along the lake. That said, we registered. 500 yard swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run. My how my standards (and capability) has fallen!
Frankly I was totally half assed about even doing it and there is some stuff going on with my aging parents that had me very distracted. In any case we left on Friday and went directly to our place at Secret Harbor. Unfortunately there were huge dark clouds though it was still 62 degrees. We went for a short swim and the skies continued to darken. Suddenly it started raining. Then lightening and thunder. We got out of there to drive back to Donner to register for the race. Holy cow, it started pouring with the thunder banging. Going up over Hwy 267, the temps dropped rapidly and suddenly there was a mix of hail and snow. It was now 37 degrees! Imagine, in the span of maybe 2 hours it dropped that much and the weather had totally turned. In addition, Truckee is now sort of over-populated post Covid and it took 1 1/2 hours to get back to Donner to register. We stayed at the hotel right near race start and were psyched to see Jimmy and his son Phillip at the dock.

Race morning it was 47 degrees with dense fog. We had planned to skip wet suits but with it being that cold, we decided to wear them. Transition was packed; my girls just laid their bikes along the fencing as there was no more space. I was tentative as I've panicked in the Donner swim multiple times. To make it worse, it was so foggy, you could barely see the buoys. They delayed the start by 15 mins and it did clear a bit. It was cool to see Jimmy who was spectating (doing the Oly tomorrow, STUD!). Also ran in to Dean. Dean seemed a bit worried. I was worried, too, b/c in the warm up swim my chest felt tight and I had that creeping feeling. Anyhow, my girls went off in the wave before me. Jimmy suggested that I start from the side and go at an angle to avoid the congestion and panic. Great advice. I then actually tried to meditate and calm down. Incredibly, the combination worked. The swim was great. Though by the second buoy it was pure carnage. People from the first two waves were bobbing around, doing breast stroke, or hanging on kayaks. I have never seen such utter overwhelm in a tri swim. It was chaos. Exited in 8 mins, got to transition feeling pretty good. Put on my shoes and helmet but then got distracted. "It's really cold, maybe I should find my vest?". Wasted another 30 sec or so looking for it but finally snapped out of it.

On the ride it was cold but adrenaline was working. But my brain wasn't working - should I go all out? Finally got going at a healthy clip (9th fastest bike split overall). Came up on Maggie, saw Lily on the other side. Finally caught Lily before T2. In transition I could not get my helmet off, my fingers were too cold! Jimmy was there, "do you need help?" I thought I would get DQd if he helped me. I tried just taking my helmet off over my head. That didn't work. Lily then was going out of transition and Jimmy said something to the effect of "your dad needs help". She came by and said "do you want me to take your helmet off?". I finally relented and she unbuckled it. She sprinted off. Mind you I hadn't even put my shoes on yet. T2 was 2:30! F! It took me about 5 mins to reel Lily in. The run had a significant climb however the return was much better. To add insult, near the finish line, they made us go down and up this ditch. WTF? The volunteer said "they just wanted to make it more challenging".

In the end, somehow I managed 1st AG. Lily and Maggie were in the same age group (19-24) and were 7th and 11th. Some other notes: - apparently this was the USAT state championship.
I have never seen so many people wearing USAT Nationals kits!
- the women's field was surprisingly big and there were a lot of younger athletes. Maybe there is growing hope for the sport.
- the kids tri after was awesome. Huge participation. It was also hilarious to see these little midgets walking around in a trance like they had just been to war, unable to process what they had gone through.
- Jasom Campbell's buddy, "Dr. Jim Taylor" sort of rubs me the wrong way. He's a self-professed expert and triathlon coach and really likes to be the world's greatest expert. I had a better swim and bike by a big margin. But he got me in T1 and T2 and, to his credit, ran 1 min faster in the run. He got me by 1:14. That dude is 67. So I gotta tip my hat. Anyhow - I was pretty half-hearted in the lead up to this. But it was super cool to do it with my kids and we had an absolute blast. It is also interesting how you can't really anticipate the elements and conditions.
- And *hopefully*, there is a spark in growing participation in this amazing sport.

 

Place

Name

City

Age

Age Group

Rnk

Swim

Rnk

T1

Rnk

Bike

Rnk

Time

Rnk

Run

Final

1

Andrew Wales

Springville CA

16

1:15-18

9

7:04

5

0:47

3

15:59

34

0:45

4

12:25

37:02:00

28

Jim Taylor

Soda Springs CA

67

1:65-69

56

9:08

9

0:51

27

18:27

114

1:17

38

15:08

44:53:00

32

Twain Mein

Redwood City CA

59

1:55-59

42

8:37

46

1:35

9

17:15

216

2:30

59

16:08

46:07:00

34

Travis Wales

Springville CA

56

2:55-59

101

10:57

26

1:16

16

17:59

48

0:53

39

15:09

46:16:00

37

Mitchell Todd

Novato CA

58

3:55-59

48

8:59

103

2:30

21

18:15

122

1:19

53

15:53

46:59:00

81

Lily Mein

Redwood City CA

23

7:19-24

33

8:18

137

2:56

79

21:19

168

1:41

126

19:07

53:23:00

142

Maggie Mein

Redwood City CA

19

11:19-24

61

9:18

139

2:56

154

25:04

147

1:25

188

22:28

1:01:13

163

Christopher Hsu

Reno NV

55

10:55-59

197

15:33

140

2:57

163

25:24

201

2:11

118

18:44

1:04:52

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Santa Cruz Sentinel Sprint
Sunday, September 21, 2025
4th AG/20th overall
Results | Photos
Strava: Swim  | Bike | Run

Lily wanted to do a third tri this year. I am way out of swimming and running shape; Jimmy put 2:46 in to me on the swim. I could only make up ½ of that. Lily got me by 1:16 in the swim as well!

The race venue was awesome; they opened up the Astro-turf multi use fields and it was the best transition area ever with plenty of space. There seemed to be hundreds of student volunteers who were doing a great job. And the crowds were really in to it; Cliff drive was packed with spectators. Such a great time; it feels like the sport might be growing again.

Name

Swim

T1

Bike

T2

Run

Overall

Age

AG

Div

Gender

LUKE PFEIFFER

0:12:37

0:03:00

0:34:11

0:00:59

0:18:39

1:09:28

29

1

1

1

STEFANO PROFUMO

0:12:53

0:03:31

0:34:19

0:00:56

0:18:45

1:10:26

47

1

2

2

ANDREW MAXWELL

0:11:40

0:03:01

0:39:13

0:00:55

0:20:09

1:14:59

40

1

3

3

JIM TAYLOR

0:15:04

0:03:34

0:40:06

0:00:56

0:21:41

1:21:23

67

1

10

9

JIMMY DWORKIN

0:12:34

0:04:35

0:38:52

0:01:28

0:24:34

1:22:05

58

3

13

12

TWAIN MEIN

0:15:20

0:04:40

0:38:18

0:01:34

0:23:41

1:23:35

59

4

20

19

LILY MEIN

0:14:04

0:05:35

0:47:13

0:01:49

0:28:20

1:37:03

23

4

95

21

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Golden Gate ½ Marathon and 5k

November 2nd, 2025

Twain Strava | Lily Strava | Flickr Photos | Results

 

Lily’s official results:

2:07:17, 9:43 pace. 124 in age group, 535 gender, 1609 overall.

 

Twain’s official results:

22:27, 7:14 pace. 2nd in age group, 47 gender, 56 overall

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