Gaiser sprints away with triathlon

Scott Gaiser wasn't going to let this race slip away in the final few meters — not like he's done in the past.

"I lost one a couple years ago here," he said about the Whitefish Lake Triath-lon on Sunday. "I caught up to a guy, passed him, then he sprinted down the final hill and got me at the end."

As Gaiser came running down Washington Avenue toward the finish this year, Evan Eck was hard on his tail and Gaiser was thinking, "That can't happen again."

He had pushed it hard all through the race and hoped he had enough left in the tank for a final sprint.

He rounded the final corner onto Lakeside Boulevard, giving it all he had, sprinted down the hill toward City Beach and crossed the finish line just six seconds ahead of Eck at 1:03:18.

"Evan pushed me," he commented after catching his breath. "It was fun to go up against him."

Gaiser, a world-class triathlete from Kalispell, has competed in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii and usually trains for longer races than the sprint distance of the Whitefish Lake Triathlon.

"In a sprint, the swim is a big factor," he said. "There are some guys here that can swim pretty quick."

Gaiser was fourth out of the water and said he felt really good on the biking and running portions of the race.

The triathlon featured a half-mile swim in Whitefish Lake, a 12.4-mile bike along Lakeshore Drive and finished with a 3.1-mile run.

The top female finisher was Jessica Johnson, finishing in 1:14:34. She beat out Jean Higgins-Peretto by nearly three minutes.

There was also a team division in which three teammates split up the race into individual legs.

Winning the mixed team event was the Mallams family in a time of 1:06:24. Ford/McKoy took the female team category in 1:26:32.

Notables in the team category were Two Amigos and a White Guy, with Whitefish police chief Bill Dial on the bike, Det. George Kimerly III swimming and Kimerly's son George Kimerly IV running; and team F3, featuring Whitefish assistant police chief Mike Ferda in the lake, Scot Ferda biking and Mike's daughter, Bulldog track star Courtney Ferda, on foot.

Ashley Ferda, Scot Ferda's daughter, completed the triathlon as an individual in 1:27:53. A former Bulldog standout, she now plays basketball at the University of Montana.

George Shryock was the top male in the 60-plus-age category, finishing in a time of 1:13:27.

More than 175 racers competed in the annual event.