Tom Egan was just another out-of-town competitor when he traveled from Milwaukee to the Leopolis triathlon in 2007.
But there he met his match in Leopolis native Sally Buckett. They started dating, and in 2010, Egan moved to Pella.
“(She) was one of the main factors why I came up here,” said Egan, who is an assistant track coach at Shawano Community High School. “Then we got married on the fifth two years ago. … We picked the fifth because it was easy to remember.”
Both Egans were in the 30th annual race Saturday.
“It is a lot more fun than just running events, because it is more family oriented where everybody knows each other,” Tom said. “It has a hometown feel to it.”
The 167 runners were divided into three classes: jocks (39), beer belly (91) and youth (37).
The jocks race consisted of a 100-yard swim across the Leopolis Pond, 12-mile bicycle ride and 5-mile run. The other two divisions include the swim, 5-mile bike ride and 2-mile run.
The Egans competed in the jocks class, won by Mike Heidke, of Neenah, for the third straight year. Heidke clocked in at 59 minutes, 30 seconds — 28 seconds better than his time last year.
Tom Egan finished 11th with a time of 1:24.31. Sally Egan, who is an athletic trainer at Shawano Community High School, was 22nd (1:38.00), one place ahead of her brother, Sam Buckett, of Leopolis.
Buckett ran the triathlon from 1988 until 2006, when he moved to Florida. He was challenged by Saturday’s course.
“The last 2 miles of the run were hard,” he said. “I really felt that.”
The top two youth finishers were from Shawano, with Ben Carroll taking first in 27:57 and Brady Michonski placing second in 29:13.
Brenton Steudel, of Greenville, won the beer belly division in 24:48.
The event drew almost the same number of participants as last year. Leopolis Booster Club treasurer Carol Peterson said the proceeds should again bring in about $2,000, which will be used to help maintain and develop the Leopolis Ball Park.
“It’s good for our little town; we are a small community,” Peterson said.
