The inaugural Disabled American Veterans 2006 Willow Creek
Triathlon held on Saturday went swimmingly.

Organizer Doug Yohe said there were no incidents and no one got
hurt during the event.

“It went extremely well,” Yohe said. “It went off without a
hitch. The committee that helped put this triathlon together did a
fantastic job. Everyone involved … did a fantastic job. It was
really unbelievable. The participants couldn’t say enough of how
beautiful the course was.”

The race started on the beach of Allegany State Park’s Quaker
Lake with the first event being a 300-yard swim in the lake. Then,
participants biked 15 miles from Quaker Lake to the Corydon Hotel.
From there, the last event was a three-mile run from the hotel to
the Willows restaurant.

The event was sponsored by numerous local businesses and
benefits the Disabled American Veterans.

“Right now, I think we raised somewhere around $3,600 (for the
DAV),” Yohe said. “We still have to pay some bills, but we raised
$3,400 or $3,500. Our goal was $2,000, and we smashed that.”

Yohe said they had 91 participants.

“There was a lot individuals,” Yohe said. “We had maybe 10 or 12
teams. (The overall winner) did it in about 1 hour and 3 minutes by
himself. Some people it took upwards of 3 hours to finish.”

First place teams included, for male, Dane Confer, Sonny Varner
and Travis Faulkner with a total time of 1 hour, 5 minutes and 53
seconds; for female, Renee Cavallaro, Katie Vecellio and Erin
Pascarella with a total time of 1 hour, 19 minutes and 7.8 seconds;
and for mixed gender, Peg Ognen, Freya Lopus and Mike Nuzzo with a
total time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 18 seconds.

Overall individual winners included male Steve Wychock, 40, with
a total time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 37.45 seconds; and female
Jennifer Tepsic, 32, of Beaver, with a total time of 1 hour, 10
minutes and 7.1 seconds. Awards were also presented to overall
second place winner Peter McMaster, 46, with a total time of 1
hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds; and overall third place winner
David McAndrew, 22, with a total time of 1 hour, 9 minutes and 46.3
seconds.

Other winners included age brackets for each gender.

Female winners included 19 and under winner Mallory Marx, 19, of
Bradford, with a total time of 1 hour, 23 minutes and 49.4 seconds;
20 to 24 winner Sarah Blatz, 24, with a total time of 1 hour, 51
minutes and 2.5 seconds; 25 to 29 winner Natalie Marasco, 29, of
Bradford, with a total time of 1 hour, 29 minutes and 15.75
seconds; 30 to 34 winner Shelley Jack, 30, of Pittsburgh, with a
total time of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 18.45 seconds; 35 to 39 winner
Amy Degurion, 38, of Bradford, with a total time of 1 hour, 41
minutes and 40.55 seconds; and 40 to 44 winner Kim Cavallaro, 40,
of Bradford, with a total time of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 23.05
seconds.

Male winners included 19 and under winner Kyle MacFarlane, 19,
of Bradford, with a total time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 16.65
seconds; 20 to 24 winner Kevin Rose, 22, with a total time of 1
hour, 35 minutes and 39.4 seconds; 25 to 29 winner Chris Manning,
29, with a total time of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 12.95 seconds; 30
to 34 winner Tom Sturdevant, 30, with a total time of 1 hour, 11
minutes and 18.2 seconds; 35 to 39 winner Carey Fox, 37, with a
total time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 49.15 seconds; 40 to 44 winner
Craig Zonna, 43, of Erie, with a total time of 1 hour, 10 minutes
and 50.8 seconds; 45 to 49 winner Rick Becht, 48, with a total time
of 1 hour, 15 minutes and 18.25 seconds; 50 to 54 winner Jim Marx,
53, of Bradford, with a total time of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 12.65
seconds; and 55 to 59 winner Jack Marx, 56, of Scranton, with a
total time of 1 hour, 20 minutes and 35.05 seconds.

Participants also enjoyed food and received t-shirts with the
triathlon logo on it.

“We learned a lot,” Yohe said. “Next year, we hope to double the
size. We had people come as far away as West Virginia, New Jersey,
Pittsburgh, Buffalo (N.Y.), Jamestown (N.Y.) and Erie. And a lot of
them said they are bringing more people back with them next year. A
lot of people traveled to come to it. They couldn’t believe how
pretty it was it.”