Back Mountain Triathlon: Personal Stories: For Beierschmitt race is all about the memories

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Shea Beierschmitt might have been born and raised in Dover in York County, but her heart has always been at Harveys Lake.

Her great-grandparents inherited a small cottage at the lake in 1949. Her family has been spending summers at Harveys Lake since long before Beierschmitt was born. Growing up and spending her summers at the lake, those magical moments of summers spent in and near the water had a lasting impact on Shea.

As a young girl she looked forward to the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon all summer. Before she was old enough to race, she remembers the night before the race like it was Christmas Eve.

The Devine family, led by next door neighbor Wayne Devine, would load up the race buoys that marked the triathlon’s swim course in a pontoon boat. They would deliver the payload via pontoon boat, and then in the morning using Devine’s 1993 Ski Nautique boat, they would place the buoys carefully on the 1500-meter swim course as the sun was coming up. Beierschmitt remembers the excitement of being part of such an important job. She remembers the sheer joy of swimming slalom in and out of the buoys and playing with her friends in the lake.

“We were a buoy family,” she said.

When she was old enough in 2011, she signed up to be a part of a relay team

“I grew up watching family members or hearing (triathlon) stories about my Dad, Wayne (Devine) or Gene Cannon. I did my first tri as a relay with Wayne’s son, Brian, and Dominic Hockenbury. It was great because Dominic was fast enough to make up the slack for the rest of us,” Beierschmitt joked. (Hockenbury, a Lake-Lehman High School graduate, competed at the USA Olympic Marathon Trials earlier this year in Orlando).

The following year Beierschmitt signed up again for a relay, once again as the team swimmer.

“We did it again the next year but Brian dropped out and Mike Tomalis’s stepson (Michael Gatusky) was our biker,” she said.

Although Beierschmitt swam competitively in high school, and also ran cross country, at this point triathlon was just a fun thing to do. The lake seemed to center around the triathlon in the summer. Being on a relay team was the easiest way to get involved.

But eventually Beierschmitt with her adventurous spirit wanted to give the Olympic distance a try. “I saw Megan Devine do an Olympic, and I had the goal of one day doing one myself as she was like an older sister figure to me.”

And then the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon announced a hiatus after 35 years of racing in 2016. After that there was a void in summer at the lake, not just for the Beierschmitt and Devine families. But for lots of families at the lake and in the Back Mountain. So when it was announced that the triathlon was going to return in August 2023 as the Back Mountain Triathlon, Beierschmitt knew she wanted to sign up and be a part of it again.

“There’s something about that hometown feeling of the Back Mountain Triathlon. I always wanted to do the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon growing up,” Beierschmitt remembered. “Just growing up around the race, and our family and neighbors helping with the buoy setup.”

When the triathlon went away it kind of broke her heart. In 2023 when Beierschmitt was doing the Back Mountain Triathlon she got very emotional thinking about it all. Climbing up Sordoni Hill on her bike, she was struck with a “that’s my neighborhood” feeling.

Later as she got to bike right past Pole 130 and see her family and friends the feeling was incredibly uplifting and emotional. “My family. My family lake. The memories of my whole life …”

She fnished the inaugural Back Mountain Triathlon in 3 hours, 1 minute, good enough for third in her age group and 16th overall. But Beierschmitt isn’t concerned with things like that.

“I like to dabble too much, and I find focused energy on one thing can be very limiting as a person. My personal life goal is to be average at a whole bunch and perfect at nothing.”

In addition to triathlon, she loves hiking, running, roller skating, roller derby, pole vault, snowboarding, skiing and spending time with her dogs. Sometimes even bringing them along on runs (the little one in a kids stroller she bought for $25).

Currently Beierschmitt and her boyfriend, Jake, are more than halfway finished with visiting all of the 124 state parks in Pennsylvania. She loves camping and hiking in the parks, and every year she tries to find at least one triathlon that is based in a state park. For example, some of the races she has completed that are based in state parks include, Steelman, French Creek and Mighty Moraine.

One of her quirky superstitions about racing triathlon is the need for sushi the night before a race. It doesn’t even have to be good sushi, as most of Beierschmitt’s races haven’t been anywhere near the ocean. It all started because her boyfriend Jake, who loves sushi, needed some additional incentive to tag along on one of her out of town triathlon endeavors. It went well the next day, and as often happens. a superstition was born.

Beierschmitt puts it this way: “My training is wafty anyway. Might as well eat sushi. So far, so good!”

Beierschmitt’s work as an occupational therapist requires her to spend a lot of time with the elderly. She works with many stroke patients and patients with brain injuries. It’s a constant reminder of a thought that she holds close to her heart: Life is short and you have to live it to the fullest.

Beierschmitt has a special appreciation for seniors. She spends a lot of time with her work focused on them. Recently she lost her best friend Marilyn Shaffer who was 98 years old. Beierschmitt and Schaffer might not have been close in age but they sure had a lot in common – a tenacious spirit and a strong work ethic. Shaffer worked during World War II as a welder in the shipyards in Portland, Maine, for the US war effort — every single day for months at a time, with practically no days off. Shaffer lived a few doors down from the Beierschmitt family and the unconventional pair spent a lot of time together. When Shaffer passed away in 2023, she surprised Beierschmitt when she bequeathed her home to her.

When asked for some advice for new triathletes, Beierschmitt said “What is your main goal? If your goal is to go fast, you should talk to someone else.”

Beierschmitt is nothing if not humble and self-deprecating.

“Isn’t it awesome that your body can do this?!” She says that a lot. Beierschmitt loves racing and seeing the ages listed on the back of other athletes’ calves. At a recent race in Lake Nockamixon, she passed a fellow competitor who was an 82 year old female. She marvels at the ability of triathletes to keep active in such a difficult sport at that stage of life, but the scientist in her also appreciates that benefits of activity for longevity in geriatrics. She loves training with some of the older athletes, and often mentions Wayne Devine as an inspiration. “If you preserve your body, your body can do what you ask it.”

Her other advice to newbies: “It’s not about your time. It’s about the snacks. And spending time with good people.” She added, “My goal is to participate, be included in a wonderful, supportive community and finish.

When the triathlon returns on Aug. 25 for the second year, Beierschmitt plans to participate at her hometown race. Probably after a night of mediocre sushi, she will sleep in the family boathouse, so she doesn’t wake anyone when she gets up early to race. Maybe she will even get to help place the buoys this year.