The sound of electronically generated bicycle pedaling is all too familiar for Sterling’s Morgan Aldridge. She trained on an online cycling platform all winter in preparation for last month’s Lavaman Duathlon near Kona, Hawaii.
And that training paid off, because she finished first among all duathlon racers.
“It's pretty neat to be able to come back and, you know, somebody be like, ‘Oh, how'd your race go?’ ‘Oh, it's pretty good.’ ‘Oh, yeah. How'd you do?’ ‘I won.’ ‘No way!’ And you know, that that always gets a double take from people," Aldridge said.
Aldridge says the race started with a 3 kilometer run that was followed by a 40 kilometer bike ride and another run, that one 10 kilometers. She finished the race in just over two hours.
But, Aldridge says training in Alaska for a race in Hawaii came with challenges. She ran just about every day during her lunch break, outside in icy conditions, which she says was a lot different from running on race day. For the biking portion, she climatized her training space by cranking up the heat.
She also didn’t spend much time building up endurance on cross country ski trails this winter because of the Kenai Peninsula’s lack of snowfall. She says she was kind of over the winter, and ready to go somewhere warm.
“And just to have that on the calendar all winter, it's really nice," Aldridge said.
This isn’t the first time Aldridge has competed in the Lavaman race. In 2018, she ran its Olympic distance triathlon. But this is only the second year the race has offered a duathlon option. And last year’s winner was also from Alaska.
Aldridge says this year’s race saw about 200 Alaskans, including several from the Kenai Peninsula.
“It’s neat to see other Alaskans, and especially other local Alaskans, do really well in sport,” she said.
Aldridge has raced in over 50 multisport events, including five duathlons. She competed in the Anchorage Tri Flake Triathlon a few years ago, and won in her age group.
But even competing in these races is a big deal for Aldridge’s family. Her grandparents homesteaded on the Kenai Peninsula, and her mom never learned to ride a bike or swim.
Aldridge says her mom cheers her on from the sidelines.
“When I learned to ride a bike as a kid, I didn't think it was a big deal," Aldridge said. "So to her, to go to a triathlon, she just sits and she's like, ‘this is so neat.’ There's so many women here, and they're all ages and all abilities and I know that it's just, it's special to her to see her kids being able to do things.”
Aldridge participated in the Lavaman race with several friends, a few of whom placed in the top five for their age groups. But Aldridge was the only one who came home with a Lavaman plate that reads “first place.”
