Sandfort, Winkler take titles

Sunday was a good day for a run ... and a bike ride ... and a swim.

Doug Gannon, coordinating the Steamboat Classic triathlon for the final time, may have put in a special call to arrange Sunday's weather.

"Someone got in touch with God and got us a nice window of beautiful weather," said Tim Sandfort, who took advantage of the conditions to win the race. "This was fantastic."

Sandfort improved about two minutes on his team last year, which was his first appearance in the event. The 27-year-old graduate student at the University of Columbia jumped two places in the standings, as 2003 runner-up John Baker did not compete this year and Barry Knight was unable to finish while trying to win his fifth straight Steamboat title.

Sandfort finished in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 47 seconds. He improved his own time by 1:47 and was about four minutes off the course record set by Knight in 2000.

Kirsten Winkler of McKenzie, Tenn., was able to defend her women's championship and broke her own course record by finishing in 1:24:58.

Sandfort, a swimmer in his high school days in St. Louis County at Parkway West, jumped ahead of the field but kept waiting for the challenge he thought would come from Knight.

"I was concerned about the guy I thought was behind me and just trying to stay ahead of him," Sandfort said. "I was really looking forward to competing against him this year. About halfway through the run, there's a good, long straightaway and I asked one of the volunteers if anyone was back there and he said 'no.' I figured he had dropped out or something had happened."

Knight, battling illness from the get-go, in fact started later in the day than the original wave of competitors and made it about two miles into the run before bowing out.

Jay Orr of St. Louis finished as the men's runner-up in 1:20:08, and Matt Bonastia of St. Louis was third in 1:21:18. The top local finisher was David Welker of Gordonville, who finished in 1:28:14 and was second among males 19 and under.

The triathlon was the first of the season for Sandfort, who began competing in the endurance events in 1996. It became an "obsessive hobby" for him in 2001.

The Steamboat event comes early in the season for competitors like Sandfort and Winkler, both of whom said they will compete in a little more than a dozen endurance events this year. The competition begins with a 500-yard swim at Central Municipal Pool, a 15 1/2-mile bicycle ride through the area and a five-mile run in downtown Cape. The field included 170 individuals and 14 relay teams.

"It gives you a good barometer of where you're at for the season and what you need to work on," Sandfort said.

Winkler showed that she's been working to improve since last year, when she set the race record in 1:26:19. She was 1:19 faster this year.

"It's a great way to start the season," Winkler said. "I've been working on my swimming. I know my swimming is better."

While Winkler charged to the front of the women's field and stretched out her lead with her favorite event, cycling, she never felt she had the competition in hand.

"You can never tell whether you're in control of it until you've finished," Winkler said. "You just hope for the best."

Jennifer Meyer of St. Louis was second in 1:30:28 and Helen Alexander-Kratz of St. Lous was second in 1:31:33. Nichole Thiele was the top local finisher among the women for the second straight year. She finished in 1:41:47, good for second among women 20-24.

Winkler was competing in her fourth Steamboat event and had praise for the event's organizers.

Gannon, who has coordinated the race since the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department took over the event in 1997, will be leaving his post in May to take a position with St. Francis Medical Center.