A few years away and some changes to the course didn’t hinder Kirsten Sass in her return to the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon. The first female competitor across the finish line even got unseasonably cool temperatures as a welcome-back bonus when the race started Sunday morning.
Sass was among the hundreds of triathletes who plunged into the Tennessee River for a 1.5-kilometer (0.93-mile) swim that was followed by a 42-kilometer (26.1-mile) bike ride and a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) run. She completed the intermediate main race in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 30 seconds to finish 14th overall, with 23-year-old Seth Ruhling from Apison, Tenn., first in 1:55:00.
The reason the 38-year-old Sass, who’s from McKenzie, Tenn., hadn’t made recent editions of the event was that her busy race schedule had national events that conflicted with coming to the Scenic City. And she is both busy and successful.
In April, Sass was named USA Triathlon’s Age-Group Female Triathlete of the Year for the second straight time. Last month, she served as a guide for Amy Dixon – a visually impaired, world-ranked paratriathlete – in a fourth-place finish at the ITU Yokohama World Paratriathlon Series in Japan, then won the Memphis in May Triathlon just a week later.
So a few adjustments was nothing Sass couldn’t handle Sunday.