Muscle man alum begins Musselman triathlon
By Sara Peters

Who knew that one could swim, bike, and run from Princeton to Singapore to San Francisco to Europe to upstate New York? Certainly not Jeff Henderson ’97, though he managed to do just that.

Over the past several years, Mr. Henderson has wandered quite the scenic route, beginning with earning his B.S.E. in computer science at Princeton and ending at running his own triathlon in Geneva, N.Y., this past summer.

“ There was a road from there to here, but it was rather windy,” he said.

Photo by Jan Regan Jeff Henderson (right) ’97 gives racers the thumbs up to dive into the first leg of the Musselman Half-Ironman. John Kenny, executive director of Geneva Boys and Girls Club, calls the start.

The scenic route
During his Princeton career, Mr. Henderson did the 200– and 400–meter individual medley for the Tiger swim team, solidifying his love of the sport.

After graduation, he taught computer science at a polytechnic institute in Singapore, as part of the Princeton-in-Asia program. It was there that he bought his first bicycle. He did his first triathlon in Borneo, a Southeast Asian island.

When he returned to the United States, Mr. Henderson continued to compete in triathlons, and began putting his passion to work.

“ My wife and I moved to San Francisco, and I was still doing triathlons,” he said. “So then I became an official for some races and started writing a lot about the sport.

“ Last year we decided to move to Europe for awhile, and while I was there I did a lot of freelance writing about triathlons,” he said. “When we came back [to the United States] it seemed like the perfect time to put up our own race.”

Just this winter they decided to put up the Musselman. Between then and race day the Hendersons had a lot of work to do, including plotting the race course, gathering volunteers, publicizing the event, securing sponsors, and getting racers registered. Mr. Henderson put his Princeton computer science education to work by writing the online registration system himself.

Mr. Henderson even invited another Princeton triathlete, Karen Smyers ’83, to speak at a dinner honoring the participants the night before the race. Ms. Smyers is a highly esteemed professional triathlete (see sidebar on page 13).

“ I wanted to do something special for the pre-race dinner,” said Mr. Henderson. “Karen was able to give those first-timers a broader perspective on the sport and some inspiration for the next day.”

Race day
The first Musselman Half-Ironman was held at Seneca Lake State Park in Geneva on Sunday, July 11. Thanks to the considerable efforts of Mr. Henderson, his wife, Melissa, and about 350 volunteers, it was a grand success.

“ It went really well,” Mr. Henderson said. “We had nobody die. That’s the first check off the list.”

Luckily for Mr. Henderson and the athletes there were many things to check off.

First, the race has a clever name. “Musselman” combines the traditional sporting term “muscle man” with zebra mussels—the mollusks that inhabit Seneca Lake and keep it clear and sparkling by filtering its water.

Second, Musselman offers two courses to accommodate a variety of competitors. The more challenging half-ironman course consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike, and a 13.1-mile run. The loosely termed “sprint” course is geared toward novice triathletes, and combines a 500-yard swim, a 15-mile bike, and a 3-mile run.

Third, Mr. Henderson was fortunate to attract 512 racers of varying experience from all over the globe. Though most of the competitors hailed from the Northeast, the top 50 also included visitors from Canada, England, and Belgium. The overall winner was Australian Kane Macherbe, who now lives in Boulder, Colo. He finished the race in 4:11:29.

In 1995 Karen Smyers ’83 won the International Triathlon Union’s World Championship race and Ironman’s World Championship in Hawaii, becoming the only woman to have ever done both in the same year. She is a seven-time winner of USA Triathlon’s Female Athlete of the Year. Remarkably she accomplished all of this, despite an uncanny string of medical problems in the late 90s. She won the U.S. Nationals for the seventh time in 2001 after suffering a severed hamstring, a shattered collarbone, thyroid cancer, and being hit by an 18-wheeler. Her success in the face of adversity made her a perfect choice for keynote speaker.

As an added bonus, Mother Nature helped by providing pleasant, sunny weather.

However, the big hit with the racers was the picturesque race course.

“ People really liked the constantly changing scenery and the beauty of the area,” Mr. Henderson said.

The bike and run courses wound through the countryside past vineyards and farms, along the lake, and through the town of Geneva across the campuses of Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

“ All the athletes I spoke to said they had a wonderful time and they’d come back next year,” Mr. Henderson said. “Nothing major went wrong … at least nothing that the athletes knew about.”

The biggest snag of the day was fortuitously kept from the triathletes.

“ Traffic control on the bike course was going to be handled by some of the local police and firemen who were volunteering their time,” Mr. Henderson said. “But about midway through the swim I got a call.”

The caller delivered the message that the volunteer traffic controllers had gotten their dates confused. Thus, vehicles were driving unimpeded through the bike course.

Photo by Jan Regan Racers line up to take their first dive before the start of the Musselman.

“ We quickly had to scramble to get people in place before riders came through,” Mr. Henderson said. “We were very fortunate that my wife, the volunteer coordinator, made sure that we had enough volunteers to cover for it. We beat the bikes there, and the athletes never knew.”

For a maiden event, the Musselman survived with only a few scratches, one of those being a criticism of the swim section of the course.

“ Unfortunately, Seneca Lake is very shallow, so people were able to wade about 100 yards into the swim,” Mr. Henderson said. “A lot of the experienced people didn’t like that. But then, of course, some of the waders got their feet cut on the mussels and rocks on the lake bottom.”

A strong finish
The first Musselman Half-Ironman is the first triathlon Mr. Henderson attended where he wasn’t awarded for his sweat with that finish-line feeling of exhilaration. Did he feel any envy for his racers?

“ I would love to be able to do this race!” Mr. Henderson said. “The actual day was so frantic that I didn’t have time to feel jealous of the competitors. I did enjoy the day, though. And I enjoyed it for the people who were smiling as they came through the finish line.”

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