Many Region residents took on the challenge today completing the inaugural Creekside Trails Duathlon Race, consisting of a 5k run and a 10k mountain biking excursion. There were about 40 participants in today's race.
This is the first time Valparaiso and Creekside have held a duathlon in their community. Inspiration flowed pretty easily as Valpo Parks has been building its community up. They’ve had groups of volunteers since 2019 and have ten miles of multi-use soft surface trials.
“We're really excited to be able to host our first bike event here. We added the running onto it as well since we've done quite a few trail races we wanted to combine the two,” said Kevin Nuppnau, Assistant Director of Valpo Parks.
Having amazing trials now in their community, Valpo Parks wanted to invite all to see. One way to bring new people out to the trails and give them an experience was to host a race. This would also generate some revenue that would go back into the trail. So, as it was a race for most it was a donation fundraising event for the Creekside Trails.
All ages were welcomed to join in the race. The trail was built for people of all ages and abilities, and the trail is marked to accommodate that. Creekside has some green trails that are easier for more beginner/novice riders and blue and black trails marked for the more advanced riders. Racers could sign up as either an individual or a two-person team.
Creekside Trails had help from their partner and host — Trailyard. Trailyard is an upcoming, world-class mountain bike focused shop, restaurant, and bar. Their goal at Trailyard is to have it be a very family friendly affair, so even if you don’t have a high-end mountain bike, you are still welcomed. It’s a place to go out with your buddies, or a place to bring the kids to get a bit of exercise. Trailyard is here for you.
Trailyard will be doing suspension service in-house. They have the newest Yeti dealer, killer accessories, a service department, and bikes in stock despite the global bike shortage.
“I look at Trailyard as a resort, whether you're coming from Valpo or you're coming in from out of town,” said Joshua Sutton, Retail Manager of Trailyard. “We will be a place that you can spend half the day at, hang out, check out some bike stuff, check out the trails, and have a good bite to eat too.”
“It was kind of an exercise on how fast you can go without crashing. I crashed twice. It’s just like racing on an ice rink at times,” said Charles Greenawald, first place winner of Creekside Trails Race.
Awards were given to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place riders. Different awards were given to different groups. For the individual race, there would be an award for Top Overall Male, Top Overall Female, Top Male Masters, and Top Female Masters (40 and over). Age group awards were also presented to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place male and female in each category: 10-14, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+. Then, lastly the team race: 1st, 2nd and 3rd place received an award but not based off age or gender.
Charles Greenawald was the first to finish the 5k walk as well as the 10k ride. Greenawald finished the walking portion of the race in under 20 minutes.
For more information about the Creekside Duathlon check out Valpo Parks.
