Dylan Sweeney

Dylan Sweeney has set quite a goal for the 2010 Coeur d’Alene Triathlon.

After placing 43rd out of 607 in this year’s event, Dylan hopes to drop 42 places next year. He believes it’s possible after improving from a 134th place finish in 2008. Dylan placed second in the 16- to 19-year-old division with an overall time of 2:17:53.

“I ran every day through the summer, pretty much from June 20 until now,” he said.

Dylan, a member of the Bonners Ferry High School cross country team who was joined in the triathlon by teammate Micah Krmpotich, shaved 20 minutes off last year’s event. He attributed his improvement in the one-mile swim across Lake Coeur d’Alene, a 25-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run to his daily runs of 8 to 15 miles.

Dylan trimmed his time in the swim from last year’s event by six minutes, the bike ride by eight minutes and the run by five minutes.

“The happiest thing for me was taking five minutes off my time (in the run),” he said.

During the run, Dylan passed 86 competitors and finished 16 overall with a time of 38:32. John Coyle, 18, of Coeur d’Alene won the foot race in 34:05.

In his first attempt at the triathlon, Micah finished the event in 2 hours, 54 minutes. A sophomore at Bonners Ferry High School, he placed 362nd overall and fourth in his age group for 15 and under. Micah finished the swim time 38:39, the bike ride in 1:22:22 and the run in 47 minutes.

Micah said he was nervous about the swim because he had never swam over a quarter of a mile in his life so taking on the mile swim was a big challenge.

“I told him that having just one year of experience for the triathlon tremendously helps you for your second race,” Dylan said. “The first time completing it can be extremely confusing with all the transitions and racing rules.”

Micah stayed in shape over the summer with running and biking. Micah and Dylan in June joined five other Bonners Ferry teens on an eight-day, 650-mile bike ride across Idaho.

Both also went to a running camp in June at Flathead Lake, Mont.

“It fired up our motivations for running through out the entire summer,” Dylan said.

In related matters, Dylan also completed in this year’s Long Bridge Swim in Sandpoint. He completed the swim in one hour and placed 229 overall.