While she won the race, it wasn’t a breeze. I haven’t tested things out so it’s a big unknown.” “I think I still have it in me but you know, I haven’t gone to the well for three and a half years. But Laine, who became a mother just over a year ago, didn’t know exactly how her return to competition would work out. Her return to racing was prompted by some former teammates and friends on the UAF swim team signing up for the race, “a perfect excuse” to get back to the state where her career started. Laine said she hadn’t entered a triathlon since early 2020. I was able to focus my energy on introducing other people to the sport. “So COVID happening and that being taken away was actually not terrible for me personally. “I had a kind of a complicated relationship with triathlon,” she said. She returned to coaching, first in Colorado and now in California at Cal Poly-Humboldt. The pandemic stoppage wasn’t necessarily a negative for the former UAF swimmer. Races stopped, but as Laine said, “I still had a mortgage to pay.”

But after racing and working odd jobs to fill in the gaps for a few years, her racing career was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The week after she won in 2017, Laine headed to Bend, Oregon, and began competing professionally. It’s the largest and longest-running all-female triathlon in the country, with a 400-yard swim, a 12-mile bike and a 3.25-mile run.Ĭompetitors crest a hill on Arctic Valley Road during the 12-mile bike portion of the Gold Nugget Triathlon on Sunday, May 21, 2023. The triathlon’s mission is “dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls through athletics,” according to its website. Over 1,200 women and girls finished the race, which has challenged athletes from Alaska and elsewhere since 1984. Laine finished the all-women’s triathlon in 1:02.02 on Sunday, topping defending champ Kinsey Loan, who finished runner-up in 1:04:10.

The last time Kinsey Laine raced in the Gold Nugget Triathlon she was quite literally packing her bags, heading for the Lower 48 to race triathlons professionally.įriendship brought her back to compete in the race, which she won Sunday to earn her fourth victory in her first attempt at the race since 2017. Kinsey Laine was the first women to cross the finish line at Peña Park en route to winning her fourth Gold Nugget Triathlon on Sunday, May 21, 2023.

Wanted by kimberly knight