Smith and Malmquist win Roly Poly Indy

By Matt Morris

Kim Malmquist had just returned from a missionary trip to the Czech Republic, where she spent three weeks teaching English as a second language. There was no pool. She didn’t touch a bicycle. She snuck in her runs between lessons with the natives.

In spite of the lack of training, she did something in the Roly Poly Triathlon on Saturday, July 19 that was foreign to her: she won.

Malmquist, a seventh grade teacher and track and cross country coach for Wheaton College, was surprised in capturing her first triathlon victory, finishing by more than five minutes over Raquel Miller of Indianapolis. Fifth out of the water in the 1-kilometer swim, Malmquist capitalized on an excellent transition to the 33-kilometer bike segment and threw in the 18^th fastest overall 8-kilometer run time to win in 1:46:26.

“I felt better than I’ve ever felt,” said a beaming Malmquist as she emerged from the finish chute. She was runner-up to Heather Hedrick in the first Indiana Downs Triathlon on June 1.

The top four women finished the race in the same order in which they left on the run. Behind Malmquist, Miller crossed the line in 1:51:37, with Ute Gawlick, of Champaign, Illinois, third in 1:56:13, and Westfield’s Anna Markus fourth in 1:56:34.

For Mike Smith, it almost wasn’t déjà vu all over again.

He entered at the last minute, battled fatigue and a leg cramp, and was about to settle for second place for the first time this season. But Smith found his rhythm in the run to keep his 2003 triathlon season victory string alive.

Smith, winner of the Roly Poly Indy Sprint Triathlon and first two Indiana Downs Triathlons earlier this summer, worked through a cramp and built a one-minute lead to cruise to victory in the Roly Poly Indy Triathlon.

He wasn’t a shoe-in to win, though.

Having won the Muncie Endurathon a week earlier, Smith knew he would be tired and debated all week whether he could weather fatigue on Saturday.

In the swim, he lagged markedly behind Robert Fink, Jim Lundberg, Daniel Bretscher and Patrick Bless. But Smith put together a combination of the second fastest bike segment, in which he cut Patrick Bless’ lead to five seconds, and hammered out 5:32 miles to build a one-minute margin of victory.

Smith finished in 1:32:09, with Bless, of Champaign, following in 1:33:09. Bretscher preserved third place, finishing in 1:36:42, and Joe Bookwalter, of Indianapolis, came in fourth in 1:37:51.

Mr. French wasn’t around, but that didn’t stop the Fink brothers and the Einterz clan from making the race a family affair.

David Fink caught his brother Robert, who led the swim segment, to finish fifth in 1:38:51. Duane Swisher was a Fink sandwich, finishing in sixth in 1:40:48, just ahead of Robert Fink (1:41:05). The final Fink was John, who was eighth in 1:41:45.

Zachary Einterz finished in 24^th with a time of 1:47:51. Brother Robert finished 41^st in 1:51:53, with dad Robert, Sr. crossing the finish line 72^nd in 1:56:45. The third brother, Seth, finished 128^th in 2:03:38. Not to be outdone by the male contingent of the Zionsville family, Zachary, Robert and Seth’s sisters, Frances and Grace, volunteered for the triathlon.

At 17, Indianapolis’ John Waggle put in a standout effort to finish ninth overall in 1:42:14.

Chris Welch, Jim Barber and David Foresee, competing as Return Of The ?, captured the Male Team Division by 11 minutes in 1:29:12.

The 3 Hoosiers – Leslie Shaffer, Leah French and Sarah Myers – won the Women’s Team Division in 1:50:39.

The Turfworx team of Robert Huddleston, Sarah Huddleston and Cory Keller won the Coed Division in 1:45:29.

Race conditions were perfect. The water temperature was 79 degrees, the humidity was low, there was a slight breeze, and the air temperature was in the low 70s.