Participants from different backgrounds, and with different goals, came to Lake Ming on Sept. 18 to take part in the Bakersfield Triathlon, which has been held for 30 years.
Aaron Meyer finished third overall in the individual sprint.
“I feel awesome about how I performed,” he said. “It was tough out there, but I never stopped pushing myself, and my results show it.”
Meyer said that this was one of his better performances he has had and that he is proud of himself and the other people who participated.
“You know, there are some people that come to these to compete,” said Meyer. “But the majority come out here for themselves, to push themselves, and that’s what these events are all about.”
Marc Rinzler was the winner of the individual sprint and will compete in the Pumpkinman Triathlon in Las Vegas next month.
“This was a training race for me,” said Rinzler. “I’ve been off the last four months . this is just a beginner to get back into training.”
“I just started training again about a week ago, so my year goes from September to April,” he said.
Rinzler, a CSUB alumnus, said that he loves coming out to the Bakersfield Triathlon to support the area and the community.
“This course was challenging, especially for the run,” he said. “It was a little up and down. It was a good track to run on, especially to test your abilities.”
Susan Pinza was one of the many Bakersfield College professors to participate in the triathlon. This is her third time doing the event.
“It’s exciting. It challenges me,” said Pinza. “I do the relay version of it. It’s fun to get out here with my friends and do this.
“It gives me something to train for-it just pushes my limits trying to do things as fast as I can.
“I feel really good [about my performance]. I did better than I did last year,” said Pinza.
“I think it’s part of that experience that I’ve had in doing this now, and I know the course.”
Pinza, who teaches academic development here at BC, participated in the relay version of the event and said that the weather was great compared to how it usually is and that it was another factor in her improving her time from previous years.
Kris Stallworth, who teaches photography in the art department for BC, participated in the individual sprint.
“[I performed] as good as I could’ve,” said Stallworth.
“I started riding a bike about a year ago,” he said.
“I need goals to keep myself motivated, so I started to lose weight and then just started talking to [professors that do] triathlons as well, so I thought I’d give it a try.”
Stallworth said that this was his third triathlon this year and that this was one of the harder ones.
“The run is really hilly so that makes it much more challenging than the other ones I’ve done,” said Stallworth.
“Weather was good. It wasn’t too hot,” he said. “I’ve heard the Bakersfield [triathlon] can be brutal so it was pretty decent. The wind was nice.”