First-time winner, competitor in his first try at a 'tri' highlight Cereal City Triathlon

BATTLE CREEK - A first-time winner and a second-place finisher in his first try at a 'tri', highlighted the 2024 Cereal City Triathlon & Duathlon event in Battle Creek on Saturday.

After finishing in the top five a few times in recent years, 39-year-old Jeremy Sikkama of Kalamazoo won the annual triathlon, held at Goguac Lake and the surrounding area.

"This is my third year. I got third last year and fourth the year before," Sikkama said. "What I like about this race is it's a fun swim, a pretty safe bike and the run is good because you can see where everyone else is. I get to run scared the entire time. There's a lot of faster runners than I am. So I try to get as big a lead as I can on the bike and then just run as fast as I can to hold on.

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CEREAL CITY RESULTS: Overall race results

"Last few years, I was leading off the bike and then a couple runners chased me down and beat me. So I have been training more on the run to try to keep those younger guys off me and be able to hold on to win one of these, and I did."

Sikkama won the race in a time of 59:22.

Chasing Sikkama throughout the race was Battle Creek's Jerry Haadsma, competing in his first triathlon, as he finished in 59:44. When Haadsma isn't running and biking, he is the varsity lacrosse coach at Lakeview High School. A swimmer and runner in high school as well as a collegiate lacrosse player, Haadsma wanted to give a triathlon a try this summer.

"This is my first one. I have been riding a lot, running some, so I figured why not," Haadsma said. "It was fun to do. Great to see everyone out here and competing. The swim was the hardest part today. I took a wrong turn at the start, it was my first open swim, and I had to catch up after that. But it was a great event, a lot of fun."

Finishing third in the men's triathlon was 17-year-old Sean Siems of Kalamazoo, in a time 1:00.06. His sister Brie Seims, at 15 years old, was the overall female winner of the triathlon in a time of 1:13.12.

The course began at Willard Beach with a 500-meter swim in Goguac Lake followed by a 12-mile bike ride through the city and a 5K run around Riverside Park. There was also a 3K run duathlon and super sprint.

The overall winner of the duathlon was Chad Adams of Ohio in 1:17.47. The overall female winner was JoAnn Cranson of Lake Odessa in 1:21.28.

Event organizer Emily Bandeen said the combination of the triathlon, the super sprint and the youth race, all in one spot, is what brings people out as there were nearly 200 competitors on Saturday.

Bandeen was especially excited about the youth runners. One of the original purposes of holding the Cereal City event is to grow the sport and create more triathletes locally.

The overall winner of the youth Super Sprint Triathlon was Nick Galanis of Rochester in a time of 43:52.

"We had beautiful weather today and that was great," event organizer Emily Bandeen said. "What is great is our youth group is growing and the great thing is we had three alumni of our youth group that did the full triathlon today. It's really great. We are starting to see the impact of starting them in middle school and they grow from the super sprint to the full triathlon. It has been a really neat process."

2024 Cereal City Triathlon winners

• Male Overall: Jerry Sikkema, 59:22
• Female Overall: Brie Siems, 1:13.12
• Male 19-under: Cody Richard, 1:08.11
• Female 19-under: Zane Sandelin, 1:34.07
• Male 20-29: Aidan Bohl, 1:13.48
• Female 20-29: Hannah Wilkinson, 1:15.29
• Male 30-39: Tyler Lewis, 1:01.21
• Female 30-39: Tori Oosterbaan, 1:24.43
• Male 40-49: Steven Doinidis, 1:04.58
• Female 40-49: Christine Guthrie, 1:17.57
• Male 50-59: Eric Lyon, 1:23.45
• Female 50-59: Terri Page, 1:25.51
• Male 60-69: Paul Bushnell, 1:14.45
• Female 60-69: Ann Garlock, 1:18.32
• Male 70-over: Earl Gaball, 1:33.24

Duathlon

• Male Overall: Chad Adams, 1:17.47
• Female Overall: JoAnn Cranson, 1:21.28

Super Sprint

• Male Overall: Nick Galanis, 43:52
• Female Overall: L. Schillio, 50:26

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: First-time winner, competitor in his first try at a 'tri' highlight Cereal City Triathlon