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When the alarm went off at 3:30 the morning of September 9, 2006, I was already awake. I was excited and nervous about the big day ahead covering the Great Illini Challenge at Lake Mattoon. Normally there are just two or three of us covering a story, but today there would be six: Julius Bolton, Tim Hartin and I on camera, plus assistants John Marlin, Sean Hartin and Rick Langlois. Also a photographer from the State Journal Register in Springfield was going to be following the crew around for the day. She was to shoot photos for an article on prairie Fire for Heartland Magazine. If you want to read the finished article and see Shannon Kirshner’s awesome photos visit http://www.sj-r.com/extras/pdfs/110306prairiefire.pdf.
As I left the house, I packed bagels, coffee and other snacks in hopes that some food would ease the pain of the 5 a.m. crew call. I knew I had to try some new things in order to cover the entire event. When Tim Hartin and I shot the footage for our documentary “Against the Wind” on wheelchair athlete Jean Driscoll, we used a motorcycle side car to get shots of her training on the road. So we thought to get a motorcycle again. Luckily Rick Langlois and his Harley were happy to help. At first, cameraman Julius Bolton was going to ride in the side car, but we thought he’d have more mobility if he sat facing backwards on the bike. Tim’s son Sean rode in the side car to act as a ballast.
The idea to cover the sport of triathlon came from WILL meteorologist Jay Searles. He mentioned to me at a staff meeting that triathlon was a growing sport in Illinois with several downstate races. He said he was entering The Great Illini challenge and invited us to tape the event. With the race starting at 8, the athletes start to arrive around 6:30. We decided to get there by 6 in order to catch the pre-race activities. It turned out to be a great time to talk to many of the athletes … plus we got that beautiful early morning light! Jay had said triathletes were a friendly bunch and he was right. They shared a lot of laughs and smiles with us they dealt with pre-race jitters.
Right before the race started, we launched Tim and a camera on a pontoon boat to capture the swimming portion. As the boat was leaving, I called out to him the race numbers of the athletes that we were following. The pontoon boat driver told me that there was no way to recognize the different athletes in the water. So much for planning!
As the leader Jennifer Harrison came out of the water, Tim was back on shore stationed at the transition area. And Julius and Rick were on the bridge over the lake waiting to catch the biking portions. Using our cell phones and some dumb luck we caught all the athletes that we were following at every stage of the race.
As the day wore on and the temperatures climbed, we started to feel exhausted. We were amazed at the athletes continuing on this rigorous challenge. In my last interview, an emotional Jay Searles thanked his friends who had supported his training and cheered him as he crossed the finish line. The power of the race to test you physically and mentally was evident on his face. The best shot of the day was watching Jay’s girlfriend run alongside him as he approached the finish line. She shouted to him that is was the only time she would beat him in a race!
Like Jay, I was so appreciative of my crew who spent the long day with me, without their help this story really wouldn’t have been possible.
Segment duration: 12:28
Story links:
- Matoon Beach Multisport Web site
- Fighting Illini Triathalon Club Web site
- Tri-Shark Triathlon Club Web site
- Shannon Kirshner’s photos
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
Chief Camera - Segment: Julius Bolton, Tim Hartin
This segment is filed in these categories: Parks/Outdoor Recreation • Sports
I love this challenge!
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