Versatile Athletes Brave Elements to Compete in Fort Peck Triathlon

It didn't feel like a mid-August Saturday morning at the Fort Peck Dredge Cuts last weekend – winds whipped upwards of 50 miles per hour, chilling the already-cold clime to its deepest bone.

But the festivities, scheduled to begin just hours after sunrise, beat back the frigidity. The show went on.

Contestants, most clad in wet suits and swim caps, wrapped thick towels and parkas around themselves as they huddled together at the top of the stairs leading down to the beach, awaiting instruction.

The groups' eyes raised as an event leader explained to them their path. Then, the descent. Thirty-some bodies ambled down to the shoreline, shedding layers as they went. One soul damned all precaution and stripped himself of all but a pair of board shorts.

The men and women, most aged in their 20s and 30s, splashed into the lake, testing its frigid waters prior to the plunge.

"Two minutes!" yelled the starter. The group gathered again at the far end of the sandy swath, goggles on, crouching, ready.

Bang! The pistol fired sound and smoke into the grey sky, and the race began. Heads bobbed up and down in the white-capped water as the contestants swam towards glory.

After the 800 meter swim, a 13.7 mile cycling leg ensued. The home stretch was a 3.1 mile run.

Twenty-five year old Daniel Emtman of Glasgow broke the tape first. Despite falling behind in the swim portion, he pipped Glaswegian C.J. Kemmis, 27, by a minute and thirty seconds, with a time of 1:34:34.

First for the females was Irene Whitmer, 38, who dusted second-place finisher Macki Kilgore, 21, of Scobey by over 14 minutes and was 11 seconds from defeating Emtman for first overall.

In the team triathlon, the all-male team of Taylor Johnson and brothers Bret and Levi Clampitt, competing under the name "Team Funk," beat 3 all-female teams en route to the title.

Cold it may have been, but the 2015 Fort Peck Triathlon forged forward into the blustery unknown and claimed victory over the weekend.