Published: June 24, 2008 01:14 am         

Last-place finisher honored like all others

The athletes and their friends and family members were gathered around the man on the megaphone, listening to hear if their bib numbers would be called so they might take a sweet door prize home from the North Mankato Triathlon Sunday morning.

Most of them were already taking the good feeling of finishing with them.

This was nearly an hour and a half after Curt Wood had won the race, crushing the course in an astonishing 1 hour, 50 seconds. It was long after most of the 300-plus participants congratulated each other with hugs, handshakes and fist bumps.

It was as relay teams and husbands and wives posed for pictures and after at least one fellow had exchanged his Gatorade for a Guinness.

Amid the post-race hullabaloo, though, nearly everyone stopped what he or she was doing, when Kevin Bigbee, one of dozens of volunteers who helped the race run smoothly, halted the drawing and announced over the megaphone that the triathlon’s last competitor was coming in.

As Panagiotis Panagiotakis jogged down the road toward Hiniker Pond park, reaching the end of his quarter-mile swim, 13-mile bike and 4-mile run, the crowd burst into applause and cheered the 38-year old from North Mankato across the finish line.

Panagiotakis was No. 274 on the results list — only three starters did not finish — but for a moment, he was No. 1 in the hearts of those who hung around after their own race was run.

Last summer, the North Mankato Triathlon was chosen to be part of the Tri Minnesota Series, a set of 10 triathlons that take place throughout the state between May 3 and Aug. 24 (the next one is St. Cloud’s Graniteman Triathlon on July 13).

The series has given the now-11-year-old local triathlon additional prestige, and brings several of the state’s top triathletes to town.

Indeed, although Wood is a Mankato native now living in Chaska, the first current resident to finish Sunday’s race was Scott Rassbach, who came in 19th overall. Other top finishers came from La Crosse, Wis., Rochester and the Metro area.

But the race, like many other local 5Ks, 10Ks and multi-sport events, including the upcoming Elysian Rookies Triathlon on July 12, hasn’t lost its roots.

It’s still for everybody, from the hard-core, elite athletes who go from race to race to the many participants who use the race to get into shape, stay healthy or even do something they’ve simply never tried before.

And that is why they cheered for Wood when he sprinted toward the finish. And it’s why they kept on clapping when Panagiotakis came across 90 minutes later.