First duathlon a success for Alex resident

• Art Hermes

Contributed photo Art Hermes of Alexandria (center) finished fifth in his age group during his first duathlon last weekend. The Minneapolis Duathlon consisted of a 5K run, an 18 mile bike race, and another 5K run.
• Briana Hermes

Contributed photo Briana Hermes was 21st in her division of the event. The Hermes family hopes to make this a family event. The Minneapolis Duathlon consisted of a 5K run, an 18 mile bike race, and another 5K run.

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Alexandria resident Art Hermes, 56, and his daughter Brianna, 25, both were among 1,200 competitors in the Minneapolis Duathlon on August 30.

The competition is regarded as the largest duathlon in the United States. Of the 1,200 competitors, 813 finished the challenge of a 5K run, a 18 mike bike race finished off by another 5K run.

Two of those finishers were Art and Brianna. Art finished fifth in his division and 279th overall after his daughter talked him into joining the competition. Brianna finished 430th overall and 21st out of 79 participants in her age group.

“I did better than I thought I would,” Art said. “There were a lot of people and it was a lot of fun. It started out like it would be a cold day, but it turned out perfect for racing.”

Art raced a triathlon (road) bike and finished 215th in the 18-mile portion of the race with a time of 1:55.46. Brianna finished 125th out of 398 people on her road bike with a time of 2:04.11.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, minneapolis, duathlon, hermes