The Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS) is a challenging triathlon designed around the unique geographical features of the Shawagunk Mountains north of New York City.  The race begins with a bike leg, and then alternating between runs and swims in the lake until a final one mile climb up to Sky Top Tower.  The 2000 edition of this race took place on a warm, humid day.  On one hand, this was desirable since there was no likelihood of people getting hypothermia in cold waters.  On the other hand, the race course was covered most of the time by a thick fog which took away any opportunity for taking photographs.  Fortunately, the principal interest on this day was about what happened after the race.

What was so special about today?  You'll have to ask these two people: Scott Willett and Julie Denney.  Here they are after the race, enjoying the scenery and waiting for the action to begin.  (Click on the thumbnails to enlarge).

What action?  Well, there was the little matter of a wedding ceremony.  As you can tell from the preceding pictures, they have been practicing the kissing part of the ceremony the whole time since finishing the race. Oh, as for the race itself, they must have been in a hurry to get married.  Scott didn't PR but had a good race considering his lack of running training, while Julie had a great PR-setting race.  That was the joke of the day as people kept asking during the race, "Hey!! What's the rush? Are you getting married or something? "

About the ceremony --- it was very nice and simple.  The two principals were calm, emotional, and EXTREMELY HAPPY.  There was nice live background music.  Of course, the place where the ceremony was as beautiful as you will find in the New York area.  It had been foggy all day but the sky opened up to welcome our two good friend as husband and wife.  Our groom wore beige pants and white shirt, a brand new haircut and a long smile in his face.  Our bride wore a very nice blue dress and also a very long smile.  Something that they did not wear were shoes.  Appropriately enough, the groom carried the bride over the threshold on the finish line.

The offiical Central Park Track Club photographer of the day was Ramon Bermo.  He finished 16th overall in the race and then promptly went to work hard with the digital camera.  Prior to leaving, he received these instructions: "Get photos of the kissing!" to which the perplexed Ramon replied, "Photos of kissing?  I don't have to go up there to take them.  I can get them all the time."  Hmmm ... have we been going to the wrong workouts ...?

Ross Galitsky was the best man, and he gave a very good speech at the banquet ceremony.  As usual, our microphone went dead as soon as he started speaking, but we paraphrase the following: "Julie is beautiful, smart, sweet, good athlete, and she deserves a very good husband and a good man.  Therefore, we are just thankful that she married Scott ... before she meets someone who fits that description."

This is not the first time that the Survival of the Shawangunks served as the wedding venue for our triathletes.   Ross Galitsky and Aubin Sullivan got married there too just a few years ago.  Why is this race so popular for weddings?  Ross illuminates us with this piece of wisdom: "This race provides a lot of food after the race, so you don't have to cater for the wedding party."  Spoken like a true champion!

Oh yes, there were race awards to be handed out too.  On this day, Scott Willett was 6th overall and 2nd M35-39, Julie Denney was 5th overall female and 2nd F30-34 and our teammate Stefani Jackenthal was 4th overall female and 1st F30-34.  Stefani also had the fastest time among all competitors for the final one-mile ascent to Sky Top Tower.

Missing from the photos was the photographer himself.  During the race, practically nothing went right for Ramon Bermo --- he got one flat (better than the two last year) during the bike, cramps in the first swim and stomach problems during the second run.  He finished 16th overall and 5th M30-34.  Olivier Baillet completed his first Survival in 32nd place overall and 4th M25-29 despite a flat and a crash.  P.S.  J.P. Cheuvront is a member of the board of directors of this race.