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To the Sports Editor,

Thanks to all who helped make the Chisago Lakes Triathlon a success!

Thank You to the Chisago Lakes community for their strong support of the 4th Annual Triathlon hosted on July 25th and 26th. Thanks to spectators throughout the county who came out to support the triathletes! Thanks to the Chisago County Press for the great coverage before and after the event.

Thanks to our local and regional sponsors, including Fairview Lakes Health Services, The RiverBank, Forest Lake Cycle & Skate, Hampton Inn, Croix Valley Pickup, Olympic Granola and Wild Mountain. Thanks also to Virga Chiropractic, Victory Lane Quick Oil Change, Joe's Pizza & Deli, Lindstrom Dairy Queen, Northwoods Roasterie, The Porterhouse, Chisago Lakes Lions, Deutschland Meats, Meredee's Bistro, George's Smokin BBQ, Sven's, Chisago Roadhouse, Yellow House Photography and Doug's Golf Cars for their support of this event. Thanks to local businesses that were so responsive to the event needs, including Chisago Hardware/Just Ask Rental, Brink's Market, Printing Express and Jimmy's Johnnys. Thanks to local motels, shops, gas stations and restaurants who served the many visitors throughout the weekend.

Thank you to Fairview Lakes Medical Services, Lakes Region EMS, Chisago County Sheriff's Department, Lakes Area Police, North Branch Police and the Stacy Fire Department for providing support at the major intersections on the bike and run courses, and for providing ongoing communications to ensure safety. Thanks to Ellen Heath and her team of local lifeguards for their exceptional support in the swim area. The medical staff was always ready, and massage therapists were kept busy soothing sore muscles. Thank You! Thanks to the Chisago County Public Works Department, and to Chisago City Parks and Public Works for providing and maintaining the great facilities for hosting this event. Thanks to Jeff and Ted Lichtscheidl from Forest Lake Cycle & Skate for providing the lead and SAG vehicles on the bike course, and special thanks to the mounted bike patrol.

A huge THANK YOU to the volunteers - we couldn't host an event of this magnitude without your continuing support. Thanks to Community Ambassador Don Bungum, Family Pathways, Hazelden, Lake Area Bank, Chisago Lakes Cheerleaders, Karl Oscar's Queen Court, Panola Valley Cloggers, and other local groups for their volunteer support. There were numerous volunteers needed to prepare athlete gift bags, assist with registration and body marking, boat/kayak/canoe patrols, manage water and aid stations, facilitate transition, traffic control at run and bike course intersections, bike course patrol, finish line support, prepare and serve food to the finishers. Thanks to all of you who made this event run smoothly.

As always, the volunteers and support personnel are absolutely the highlight of our local triathlon. We want to pass along all the "Thank You's" we heard from the Triathletes and the Midwest Sports crew for the fantastic volunteers, our local people are the reason that the triathletes want to come back to our community each year.



Chisago Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce

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