Many Wittenberg University students have benefited from scholarships provided by the Wittenberg Guild through the success of the Wittenberg “Tiger Tri” Triathlon that has become an annual event promoting fitness, raising money and an awareness of the opportunities on campus and illustrating the beauty of this area.
Proceeds from the Tiger Tri have tallied more than $10,000 in the event’s five-year history. Those dollars go directly into a scholarship fund for Wittenberg University students via the Wittenberg Guild, a non-profit Springfield-based group that promotes Wittenberg while raising funds for students.
This year’s event took place on Sunday, Oct. 11, and featured 99 participants competing in a swim, bike, then run. The race began at 10:30 a.m. with the 400-yard swim at the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Center pool, followed by a 14.80-mile bike ride from Bill Edwards Drive to Buck Creek State Park and back along the Buck Creek Trail. The final event was two loops around Wittenberg’s campus for a 3.5-mile run to the finish line.
“I had worked in the Wittenberg Guild for many years, and wanted to create a new and unique event that would attract a different group of people to help fundraise additional scholarships,” said Jade Gianakopoulos, who graduated from Wittenberg in 1995. She is the creator and organizer of the Tiger Tri that started in 2011. “I thought that it would be a good fit to create a triathlon at Wittenberg that is open to the general public.”
The event is managed and organized by volunteers. Each participant receives a finisher’s shirt and prizes go to the top three overall male and female finishers, the overall winning team, and the fastest male alumnus and female alumna. Winning this year’s overall event was Gabriel Khan in a time of 1:05:41.5. The first female finisher was Nicole Brown, placing 20th in a time of 1:20:37.6.
“When you account for sponsors, vendors, athletes, volunteers, spectators, authorities, and everyone involved, the event has around 500 people. That is great exposure for Wittenberg,” Gianakopoulos said. “Our participants are very diverse. They come in from many states in the Midwest and beyond. We are one of the only triathlons in October, so we have a niche for the timeframe. Our athletes range in age from 10 years up to 79 years young.”
The event draws attention to the beauty of Springfield and the Wittenberg campus.
“It starts at the pool at Wittenberg. Then, racers hop on their bikes and follow the bike path,” Gianakopoulos said. “It is such a beautiful bike ride that several Wittenberg students told me that they had never seen that part of Springfield before and didn’t realize that it is so beautiful. Once the bikers return, they do a run on Wittenberg’s campus. Many racers have told me that they had never heard of Wittenberg until the race, and that they would consider it for their children in the future.”
The 2015 sponsors included Black Pug Bike Repair, Champion City CrossFit, Comprehensive Vein Care, Good Times Event Services, Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, Holmes Printing Service, Kapp Construction, Key and Lock Storage, Lori and Rick Nedelman, the MacRay Company, Panera Bread, Payton Plumbing, Sodexo, Springfield Cardiology, Springfield Tech Geeks, StreamRev: Medical Billing & Revenue Streamlining, and Wittenberg University.
Please email tigertri@wittenberg.edu for questions about next year’s race or sponsorship information.
