The fastest triathletes is the world come here each year to participate in the Draft Legal Challenge at Lake Louisa State Park on March 7th & 8th. Former Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker of Clermont came up with this idea 10 years ago and now it is the season opener for many ITU professionals as we come into an Olympic year in 2020. While the Saturday Men’s and Women’s Pro races are certainly the main event, the weekend has a total of nine races throughout the weekend; from juniors, to age groupers, to the elites. Jarrod Shoemaker gave the Tablet a look at what to expect as this race weekend quickly approaches and also what’s going on with Shoemaker; Clermont’s favorite elite multisport coach.
Tablet: What excites you about this year’s Draft Legal Challenge (DLC) race at Lake Louisa?
Shoemaker: 2020 is an Olympic year and that means the quality of the field across the draft legal triathlon scene will be at a high as people try to get the final points to qualify for the Olympics. There also will be a good number of young athletes trying to start off their careers launching to 2024 and 2028 Olympics which will be in Paris and LA. However, for me the big part of our race in Clermont is the development race, where we have a full field of up and coming athletes trying to get their elite license to be able to race against the other pro athletes.
Tablet: As the event’s founder, Now, 10 or so years later, does it surprise you how it has evolved?
Shoemaker: 10 years! I am so excited that we have had success over the past 10 years and continue to grow. I have raced in many of the elite races throughout the years and it always amazes me how much passion there is for the triathlon. Our goal at the Clermont race has been to promote draft-legal triathlon, which not many age-group athletes have the chance of racing. It is fun, fast, and exciting.
Tablet: Can you tell us a little bit about your team you are coaching?
Shoemaker: After finishing up my career I have moved to the other side of the fence and started to coach. Throughout my career, I have worked with many successful coaches and learned so much about the high end of the sport. I really enjoy working with athletes to help them achieve their goals and help them understand the great building blocks that training for triathlons can provide for their lives as they move forward. I have a group of pro athletes who are training in Clermont. Currently, we have 10 people in our group racing a variety of races from draft legal to long course non-draft. We have put together not only a great group of athletes but a great group of people who are supportive of each other.
Tablet: What other events does the group have?
Shoemaker: Clermont is a big focus for some of the group, but a lot of the group will be racing non-draft races. We will have a few athletes racing St. Anthony’s Triathlon, which is a great Florida race.
Tablet: What has been going on with Jarrod Shoemaker besides the squad?
Shoemaker: After my retirement from Triathlon, I have started financial advising. I am working with Ameriprise Financial and really enjoy helping people achieve their goals, whether that is retirement, college savings or investments. I bring the same analysis to financial advising as I did to triathlon, finding and setting goals, creating a plan and then monitoring and adjusting the plan. It is very rewarding to help people!
Tablet: The world continues to grieve the passing of Kobe Bryant. Can you give us a memory of you and Kobe?
Shoemaker: At the 2008 Beijing Olympics right before opening ceremonies, we were all taken to the gymnastics area for a surprise visit from President Bush. After the visit, all of the Olympic teams were hanging out waiting for the opening ceremonies to start. We were talking among our own teams when we decided to go meet the basketball players. We ended up spending the next few hours talking, taking photos, and walking in with them. It was so cool to be on the same team as them and they loved the experience of meeting all of the other athletes.
Tablet: Olympic year coming quickly. What do you see happening for the USA’s team?
Shoemaker: I have no clue what is going to happen for the US triathlon teams. The ITU made some serious errors in how they have approached the launch of the new mixed team relay and it has really hurt the athletes. Even though the Olympics is still a standard distance race, the emphasis has been placed on the team relay to qualify, yet they have not provided enough opportunities for all of the athletes to be able to prove themselves. That all being said, the women’s team you could choose any 3 of 5 people and they would be fine. On the men’s side, there are 5-6 guys who all could be on the team, it really depends on how the US decides they have the best opportunity to get a medal. What irks me the most is that likely this will be decided on a phone call, not on the field of play or through a series of events for athletes to prove themselves.
Tablet: Any endurance events for yourself on the horizon?
Shoemaker: I just want to have fun now. I will run some Clermont parkruns. I am running the Boston Marathon in April and then racing SOS Cape Cod in June. I want to pick races that I can have fun at and enjoy. I might jump into some pro triathlons, but there are few Olympic distance races on the calendar anymore.
Tablet: Clermont/Minneola is certainly “growing up”. You’ve never shied away from this topic. Can you talk about both the good and the not so good?
Shoemaker: I love the Clermont area, but despite being the “Choice of Champions” and being the place for endurance athletes on the east coast and Canada to come for warm winter training, the city and county haven’t done a good job of protecting the athletes. The bike paths are becoming more dangerous. The crossings are not being built safely. The goal of paths is to limit car/bike interactions. In addition, the city and county are not doing a good job of preserving open spaces which is sad. I know there is a middle ground, but it seems right now, the county’s goal is the most houses possible.
Details for Draft Legal Challenge can be found here:
https://www.draftlegalchallenge.com/timeline
Volunteers are still in great need of volunteers:
https://www.draftlegalchallenge.com/volunteer
Kevin Grogan is a sportswriter for the. South Lake Tablet. Kevin and Kimberly are owners of Dash-Sports
