Gary Franklin
SPORTS EDITOR

On Saturday, July 20, history was made for Morrison, Illinois native, Chris Scott as he captured the overall top spot in the XTERRA DINO Triathlon held at the Versailles State Park with his overall three event time of 1:48:27.7 for the fifth straight year.

Broken down into the three events, he swam the 1KM in 16:17.8, biked the 13.5 mile trek in 56:33.6 and ran the final 5 miles to the finish line in 34:15.0.

Scott's past times beginning in 2009 included: Swim 16:56, Bike 1:01:00 and Run 35:37 for 1:53:33 at age 37.

2010: Swim 17:01, Bike 1:02:03 and Run 35:21 for 1:54:25 at age 38.

2011: Swim 16:24, Bike 57:35 and Run 36:10 for 1:50:09 at age 39.

2012: Swim 15:13.1, Bike 54:35.5 and Run 32:32.2 for 1:44:09.5 at age 40.

The swim event got underway at 9:00AM. Competition swimmers were asked to wear green swim caps, with survivor swimmers wearing yellow caps slated to enter the water five minutes later, at 9:05.
For those beginning their first leg of the race from a Kayak or canoe vs the swim leg, they hit the water at 9:30.

Below is information pertaining to each segment of the race.

SWIM: The swim start is from a beach to the east of the boat ramp. The course is a counterclockwise, triangular loop in the deepest part of Versailles Lake. Lifeguards patrol the course on rowboats. Kayak division racers complete a 2 km paddle extending to near the park dam.

BIKE: The mountain bike segment is the highlight of the race. The most notable feature of the course is the amazing Cliffside trail, climbing high above the expansive valley below. The course traverses scenic and fun singletrack, including several climbs and descents with elevation changes over 200 vertical feet. The surface is nearly all dirt single-track.

RUN: The run course utilizes most of the park's hiking trails, including #1, #2 and #3. There are several steep up and downhills, rooty sections, and stairs. It is a very challenging course. on the run course, at a two-way portion of trail connecting trail #1 to trail #2.

The event lures athletes from many states. States reppresented during the 2013 event included: Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana. Many participants stated they use their vacation to travel to triathlon events all summer long, packing along their RV's with spouse, kids, pets, etc. and trek every weekend somewhere to a different event site.

For race-related updates on race weekends, call the DINO Hotline: 317-336-7553 or follow on Twitter: @DINOseries. Results were posted at www.DINO.com.