Four hardy souls finish Frozen Forester triathlon

They were a small but hardy crew who competed in Saturday's Frozen Forester triathlon or 5K race at Pine Valley.

Organizer and forester Tim Krohn said the triathlon had six entrants and four finishers. The triathlon included a 6.8-mile ski, 4.6-mile pedal (on fat-tire bikes, of course), and a 3.1-mile no-shoe/snowshoe run. There were bonus time deductions for wearing plaid and bringing soup. The Frozen Forester 5K race started later and followed the Frozen Forester's ribbon line through the woods, off- and on-trail. Both events finished with a sip of Forester Soup.

Tom Anderson of Cloquet is the winner of the triathlon with a time of 3:09:45. The slowest participant was 5:13:29.

"This was one tough 14-miler," Krohn said.

"The soup is fantastic, the course was even better," said Anderson in a post-race interview. "Lots of snow, lots of thickets, lots of steep stuff. It was everything Tim (Krohn) said it was going to be."

The 5K winner, Illya Schuelke-Sanchez of Duluth, turned in a time of 1:43:20 in running shoes.

When asked for his post-race assessment, he said there was "a lot of cold, a lot of wind, a lot of deep snow, but it was super exciting," adding that "snowshoes are underrated."

Krohn said they had 28 people sign up for the 5K, with six not starting and 10 finishing. He figured they made about $600 to donate to the mountain bike trail extension.

He noted that there was a similar event in Superior the same day, but it was on a flat course.

"It's challenging here, it's up and down," Krohn said. "The mountain bike trail is something new, and the run is completely challenging.

"The important thing was to promote the new mountain bike trail," he said.