In addition to running a 10 K trail run on Saturday, I was fortunate to meet up with another fellow Sage Creek Forums member.  Zeke Bass spent a couple of days with me, as he competed in the Vineman 70.3 triathlon.    The Vineman is one of the few triathlons that are allowed to use the Ironman name, and serves as a qualifying event for the Ironman 70.3 in Clearwater, Florida.  The event consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run.  It starts in the Russian River at Guerneville, and ends in Windsor after a gruelling 70.3 miles total.

I got to know Zeke when we met at a Pope & Young Measurers training last fall.   He enjoys pursuing big game in the rugged wildernesses of Northern California.  He killed his first deer at the age of 12, in his home state of Georgia, with a bow.  It is now his weapon of choice when he goes afield.  The quiet , soft spoken southerner now makes his living as a commercial diver as well as in real estate from his central Coast California home. 

When he told me months ago that he was on the wait-list for the prestigious triathlon, I was impressed to say the least.  I knew that with his military background, Zeke was tough, but doing triathlons takes TOUGH to a whole new level…To compound that, he confided that the 70.3 mile endurance event was the first triathlon he had ever competed in.  Most folks start out with a shorter distance and extend it, but Zeke went big right out of the gate. He started training even BEFORE he had confirmation of an entry.  Even a bike wreck during training that scraped hide off of half his calf and a good portion of his hip didn’t dissuade him from achieving his goal.  He still had scar tissue evident when he showed up at the ranch on Friday evening.  He pitched right in and helped feed cattle in the evening.  Before long he had my three daughters wrapped around his finger. 

When race morning dawned Zeke was at the start for his age group wave at 7:58 am.  We arrived at the start in time to see his wave enter the water for the starting horn.  At the Vineman, the competitors are in the water when the horn sounds.  If you look in the pictures below, you can pick out Zeke.  (He is the one in the yellow swim cap with a black wetsuit.) He showed his prowess in the water with a 1.2 mile swim time of 35:31.1.  He was in the middle of the pack coming out of the water, and had a 3:11 transition to the bike leg.

 Zeke was on his bike in a flash and on to the windy, hilly course that snakes 56 miles through the hills of Sonoma County.  At that point my two oldest girls and I went to mile 2 of the run to man a water stop with my fellow Team in Training mates.   As we cut cross lots, Zeke was rolling along at over 20 mph on average, for a bike time of 2:47:24.4.  In this Leg he moved up a number of places on his competition, and was # 39 out of 240 in his age class alone.   

In the waves of thirsty triathletes we missed Zeke as he went out on the run course but saw him briefly as he returned shortly before 1:15 pm.  Later he told us he had back spasms in the run portion that caused him to drop time. Still, his 2:15:53 run over the Half marathon course was still a full 3 minutes faster than I ran the first half of my marathon in June.  All that after 57.2 miles of exertion previous!

Zeke crossed the finish triumphantly with a final time of 5:40:57.1.  Overall, he was in the TOP 30% of all the competitors.  In his age group he was right in the middle.  An outstanding performance for any athlete, not to mention a FIRST time triathlete.

Zeke, I tip my hat to your degree of dedication and fitness.  You are an inspiration to all of us hunters and off-season athletes.