Brycen Hardesty doesn’t remember the first time he thought about competing in a triathlon, but he does remember the first time he ran in one.
Actually, he doesn’t remember exactly either.
That’s because he crossed the finish line of his first triathlon when he was 5 years old.
“I didn’t really remember it,” he said.
It took him about eight years to compete in the next one, but last weekend, the 13-year-old from Gillette won first place in his age group at the Black Hills Youth Triathlon.
Brycen completed the 100-meter swim, 2-mile bike ride and 1.5-mile run in 23 minutes and 16 seconds, about two and a half minutes faster than the second-place finisher in his 10-13 age group.
Brycen Hardesty, who took first place in the 10-13 age group of a triathlon in South Dakota last weekend, stands in his yard Thursday in Gillette.
News Record Photo/Luke Johnson
Coming from a family of runners, he was ready for the event. His older brother, Patrick, is entering his senior year at Thunder Basin High School and is a decorated runner in the school’s cross-country history. His father Dave has competed in triathlons that Brycen and Patrick tagged along to watch growing up.
Still, Brycen had some pre-race jitters to address.
“I felt like, ‘I can do this.’ But these people look pretty athletic,’” she said of his competition. “He was a little nervous, but he was also confident in facing it.”
The triathlon began with the 100 meter swim.
Drawing on his experience with the shared Twin Spruce and Sage Valley swimming and diving team, Brycen finished the first leg in 1 minute and 45 seconds.
Then came the transition from water to land.
“I dried my feet, put on socks and shoes,” he said.
Brycen Hardesty leaves the pool at Black Hills State University and runs to suit up for the bike leg of a triathlon in Spearfish, South Dakota, last weekend.
Photo courtesy/Carolin Hardesty
From the pool at Black Hills State University, Brycen left his dry socks and shoes on the ground, one after the other, and descended a grassy hill next to a ladder that led to his bike.
There he grabbed his helmet, got on and started pedaling to begin a 2-mile ride. While riding his bike, Brycen noticed the advantage he had built over his competition. He finished that stage in 9 minutes and 14 seconds, despite taking a slight detour; In other words, get lost.
“I passed everyone,” he said. “Then I got lost and then I got back to normal.”
To his credit, he had been told to follow the blue flags to stay on course, which he did. He simply followed the wrong blue flag.
“I thought this doesn’t seem right,” he said.
On the other hand, when you are in the lead there is no one to follow.
He finished the 2-mile bike course still ahead of the group, but without knowing the time each swimmer finished, he had no way of knowing how much of a lead he had.
“I thought, just finish it strong,” he said. “Don’t walk or anything. Because the people who started behind you in swimming might have a better time than you, so finish strong.”
Maybe that’s why, as he transitioned his bike into the final stretch (a 1.5 mile run), he tossed his bike toward his dad but forgot to get rid of anything else.
“Then my dad said, ‘Do you want to run with your helmet?’” Brycen recalled. “So I threw the helmet at my dad and kept running.”
Brycen ran much of the final leg of the triathlon with no other triathletes in sight. Not knowing how much of an advantage he had due to his swimming time, he focused on the goal at hand and overcame one of the most physically challenging tasks of his young life.
“I was exhausted and I was struggling,” he said. “As he was very tired from swimming and cycling, from then on it was mostly a mental game.”
Less than 24 minutes from the time he jumped into the pool, Brycen crossed the finish line and took first prize.
Brycen Hardesty high-fives a volunteer as he crosses the finish line first after completing a triathlon in Spearfish, South Dakota, last weekend.
Photo courtesy/Carolin Hardesty
The young triathlon competitor prepared for that victory by alternating days of laps in the Campbell County Recreation Center pool and days of biking and running laps around Fishing Lake with his older brother.
From father to son to younger brother, family competition helped forge Brycen’s initial drive to excel in running sports.
“My father pushed my brother because he probably wanted to hit him,” he said.
Now he wants to beat his brother.
“There is a little competition in this family,” said his mother Carolin.
The youth triathlon showed where Brycen stands among his peers. But he has yet to surpass the marks set by his father and his brother.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow Keynote USA Local on Twitter.