RAIN DOESN'T DETER 137 COMPETITORS IN STEAMBOAT TRIATHLON

Helga McClane came to Cape Girardeau Sunday to visit her niece and take a swim, a ride and a run. The 63-year-old nurse from St. Louis swam 500 yards in the pool at Cape Girardeau Central High School, biked a 15.5-mile circuit out by Black Forest Villages and back, and ran a five-mile circuit from the pool down to the Mississippi River and back in two hours and 28 minutes.

She claimed to be the oldest of the 137 people from five states who took part in the 13th annual Steamboat Classic Triathlon.

Until this year, the Cape Girardeau Department of Parks and Recreation and Southeast Missouri State University ran the event jointly, but this year the city parks department ran it by itself. Some of the volunteers were university students.

They stood at street corners in a light rain pointing out to runners where to turn.

The weather seemed to cooperate this year. It rained hard when the participants were swimming, and let up in time for the bicycling. Runners ran through a light mist.

Mark Stecher of Boulder, Colo., said the temperature was perfect, but with the wet streets he found himself dodging puddles to keep his running shoes from getting soggy. The wet roads made for slick conditions for bicyclists who took curves a bit more cautiously than on dry roads, he said.

McClane said she never feels any pain running a triathlon. "I get tired, but I never hurt," she said. The race was "nice" she said.

Jay Hasheider, who came from Columbia for the event, said triathlons are healthier events than marathons. "You're using different muscles" in different parts of the race, Hasheider said. "A lot of it is low-impact -- riding and swimming. Your knees really take a pounding in a marathon."

Competitive triathletes use the Steamboat Classic for "spring training," Stecher said, because it's shorter than many triathlons and the summer heat hasn't hit yet. But most of those who participate "are here for personal goals, to prove something to themselves," he said.

Stecher put himself in the latter category, although he said this was his 91st triathlon. "When you're 47, you're not going to compete with the pros, and you're not going to the Olympics."

Stecher said he has run marathons and suffered the effects for two weeks afterward. He said he'll be tired but able to work tomorrow.

Paul Terstegge, a Central Missouri State University student who comes from the Netherlands, said he studies well after triathlons, but he wouldn't want to take an exams on the day after one.

Many of the same athletes will return in September for a triathlon at Trail of Tears State Park.