Blake repeats as Elite champion in EL Triathlon

ELKHART LAKE – Blake Becker of Fitchburg won his second straight overall title in the Elite longdistance competition at Saturday’s 11th Elkhart Lake Triathlon.

Becker, a professional triathlete, finished the course in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 29 seconds. The race, which started and ended at the Osthoff Resort, included a one-mile swim, followed by a 28-mile bicycle ride and finishing with a 6.2-mile run.

The top area finisher in the Elite event was Jacob Rhymer of Sheboygan who took sixth with a time of 2:13:19.

Gwen Jorgenson of Milwaukee was the overall female Elite champion in 2:17:26. Tamela Gabrielse, Elkhart Lake, led area runners with a sixth place in 2:37:58.

The Olympic Event long-distance overall winner was Christopher Schmidt of Chicago with a 2:17:57 clocking. The women’s Olympic champion was Julie Kennedy (residence unavailable) in 2:31:27.

Michael Sokol of Plymouth finished 10th overall in the Olympic race with a 2:25:34 effort to pace area competitors. The leading area female participant was Sheboygan’s Karla Schmideler in 2:48:14.

The triathlon also included the Sprint Event that consisted of a quarter-mile swim, followed by a 12.4- mile bike race and then a 3.1-mile run. The overall champion was Corey Binnebose of New Berlin in 58:42.

Paul Nemschoff of Sheboygan was the leading area Sprint finisher at fourth overall in 1:03:22.

The women’s overall Sprint winner was Stacey Kiefer of Antioch, Ill., with a time of 1:04:47. Sara Hess led area female competitors with a 12th-place finish in 1:15:00.

Over 800 competitors were in the triathlon. Complete results for the triathlon are available at www.elkhartlakemultisports.com.