Verna Mize Triathlon returns this weekend
Race honors Mize’s efforts to protect the water
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HOUGHTON -- Verna Mize worked extremely hard to protect the waters of Lake Superior in the 1970s. She led an effort to hold taconite companies accountable for the tailings they were depositing in the lake.
Now her name is synonymous with a triathlon in her name. Founded in 2021, the triathlon has grown in popularity each year, and now even has three races, the Maxi Mize, the Main Mize, and the Mini Mize.
The races will take place Saturday, Aug. 1, and there is still time to sign up for them.
The triathlon came to fruition during the area's initial recovery from the pandemic.
"We were coming out of COVID and everything," said race organizer Mary Kaminski. "Well, March of 2021 was when I brought it to the city council because BridgeFest was going to be canceled. Canal Run was still going to be virtual. And I’m thinking, 'Geez, how can we get people out and active in a safe way?' Right around the same time, (city manager) Eric (Waara) had Verna’s monument moved down to the water.
"Charlie Ashbach had this excellent article, 'Verna Mize: The first lady of Lake Superior' by Charles Eschbach. So, all this is happening at the same time, and I thought we should just have a triathlon in and along the water she saved. So, we brought it to the city council. They were very receptive and we just went from there."
The Maxi Mize features a 1.5k swim, a 40k bike ride, and a 10k run. Competitors are now using that length to help prep for ironman competitions later in the season.
"We had a young man last year, he had gone to school here maybe, or he was familiar with the area, he came up to do our Maxi Mize in preparation for a half ironman in Madison," Kaminski said. "Eric Johnson is his name. And we have another young man who is using this as kind of a training site for an ironman in Philadelphia or somewhere. I’m not 100% sure where, but I guess in training for a half ironman."
The Main Mize features a half-mile swim, an 8k bike ride, and a four-mile run. The Mini Mize has a quarter-mile swim, a four-mile bike ride, and a two-mile run.
Kaminski reminds those interested that they could also form teams to compete in the events.
"For those people who are not comfortable with maybe swimming or biking or running, they can form a team," she said. "We have team categories in the Mini and the Main Mize. So, that’s another option."
It's that history that is most important.
"The bigger message, in my opinion, is just to remind everybody what Verna Mize did, and what we need to continue to do," said Kaminski. "That is to respect Lake Superior, and keep it clean and keep it safe. It’s getting assaulted again. We need to continue to keep it in everybody’s mind."
Just like the Canal Run, the Verna Mize Triathlon would not happen without the efforts of a large number of volunteers.
"Volunteers make it happen," she said. "We have a crew of volunteers that do this every year, which is just absolutely wonderful for me, because Eric is in charge of buoys. Everybody who’s got their thing, they just know what to do, and you know they’re going to do it. It’s just a relief for anybody who is like a tournament director or event organizer.
"When you have people knowledgeable and interested, involved, it just makes things go much smoother."
Kaminski said that they could always use a few more.
"Speaking of volunteers, we definitely could use a few more," she said. "Some of our usuals, have conflicts, and I completely understand. If any lifeguards are out there, we could use one more lifeguard. We have the Coast Guard and the sheriff’s boat in the water, and we have lifeguards on shore.
"With the addition of the Maxi Mize, we need three lifeguards, because there’s three different distances that swimmers go to. They go around their buoy and come back. So, a call out for volunteers or a lifeguard."
Participants have until Thursday, July 30, at 5 p.m. to preregister. For more information, contact Mary Kaminski at 906-482-2422 or by email at beach@up.net.