Small Town News

Tough year doesnt slow Medical Lakes airman athlete

---

Anyone else might be thrilled with a third place finish at the Trailblazer Triathlon in Medical Lake, but Michael Bergquist seems a bit gloomy when he thinks back on the June race.

Like every other year, the 36-year-old technical sergeant in the Washington Air National Guard had started off training hard, hoping to continue another seasonal streak of victories in triathlons, duathlons, and road races ranging from two miles up to the marathon.

But starting in February a quick succession of injuries shattered his hopes for a season of personal bests. When you're competing with a ruptured calf muscle, two injured hamstrings, two wounded knees, three broken ribs, and other various injuries suffered during training and competitions, suddenly a third place Trailblazer finish doesn't seem so bad after all.

"It's been a tough year," he said.

Last year when it seemed nothing would slow him down Bergquist crossed first over 19 finish lines and set 11 new course records across the country. This earned him the title of Air Force Male Athlete of the Year for 2008, singling him out from more than 700,000 officers, enlisted and civilian Air Force members.

"This year was going to be mine," he said. "Even though last year was my year this one was going to be even better."

"He's competitive, it's just the way he is," said Master Sgt. RobertF. Duke, who is Bergquist's flight chief and works with him on security enforcement at the base. "He told me about a cool down jog he took one day after running a marathon. He saw a bike rider ahead and said he just had to catch him."

Bergquist's single-minded drive to come in first has pushed him forward since he can recall. "I think I was born that way," he said. "I was so competitive when I was a kid I used to race at everything, from eating to running. It was just in me."

While ah elementary student in Veradale, Wash., the Spokane Rotary Track Club came to his school and offered him a spot on the team after he won all six fitness tests. This was just the beginning for a natural-born athlete who, for the past 15 years, has finished 25 to 30 races annually.

On occasion he said he's completed two contests in a weekend, even going so far as to wrap up three races in two days, one in the morning, one in the evening and one the next day. He usually places high, once winning three races - the Georgia State Championship being one of them - and setting three course records in eight days.

After joining the National Guard at age 18, Bergquist quickly became a standout athlete in a field of fitness. His list of accomplishments is immense, including spots on the National Guard's Elite Marathon Team, the All Air Force Triathlon Team and four trips to the All Military World championships.

Of the many peaks in his athletic career, Bergquist recounts his first military world championship in Holland in 2003 as part of Team U.S.A. "It was a tremendous honor to be a U.S. military member and an athlete for team U.S.A.," he said. "There are really only two occasions you get to wear a uniform for the U.S., as an athlete and for the military and I was both at the same time."

It was while training for another try at the world championships - swimming as much in one year as the previous four combined - that Bergquist met his wife Amanda, who was a lifeguard at the EWU pool.

"He was the mystifying triath-lete in the little Speedo with green flames," said Amanda. She started showing interest in triathlon competition, initially as a ploy to get Bergquist's attention. "A girl wants to impress a guy, but then I started to like it and I fell in love with the sport." Amanda has since completed numerous races and brags about beating Michael out of the water at the Trailblazer Triathlon.

The couple has now been married over three years and have a home on Medical Lake near Coney Island Park, where Bergquist used to pay people to watch his clothes while he swam the perimeter. The property was "a disaster" when they bought it, but Bergquist said he came to the conclusion that "you can always change your house and yard to make it better but you can't change where your house is."

And change it they have, transforming a backyard of boulders and debris into a literal triathlon training center, complete with a training pool, rubberized path for smooth running and a 14-foot ramp that allows a swimmer to bypass weeds while transitioning from the lake onto the dock. "Living on a lake that's motorboat free is a really big perk for a triathlete," he said.

The couple has opened their backyard to triathletes from across the Inland Northwest who come here to train, but as far as his own training goes, Bergquist said he's had to slow down for the time being. "It was so frustrating this year that I lost a little bit of the hope that I would even be able to compete again," he said.

Instead of letting hopelessness overcome him, however, Bergquist prefers to look forward past his still-healing injuries. "During a race when things are going poorly I tell myself things are going to turn around, I'm going to catch that guy," he said. "I get myself motivated to keep pushing by lying to myself, saying that after I catch this person or go that one more mile I can quit, but it's always one more. I tell myself, if my shoulder heals I can get an even earlier start than last year and be even more prepped."

In a ceremony at the base on Aug. 21, Bergquist was awarded the Airman's Medal for saving the life of a fellow contestant during the 2006 Gap to Gap relay event in Yakima, Wash. The defending female champion had fallen out of her kayak and was struggling to hang on, plunging down river in freezing water. Bergquist said he jogged down the bank, witnessing her go from trying to salvage her race to trying to get to shore and finally just trying to stay alive.

Bergquist, who said he's had a fear of water for many years, didn't think twice before leaping from shore. "It was somewhere between the shore and the water that I thought 'I'm probably going to die,'" he said. "Right as I got to her and reached out to push her closer to shore she lost her grip."

Half an hour later Bergquist finished the last leg of the race for Team Fairchild, running them into the first place position - hardly a surprise for a guy who just won't slowdown.

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at ryan@cheneyfreepress.com

"With funding you have options. With no funding you have no options/'

Cheney City Administrator Arlene Fisher



Copyright 2009 Cheney Free Press, Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from Cheney Free Press