After a 25-minute delay because of traffic congestion, the first wave to start the Aflac Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon hit the 83-degree water of Centennial Lake at 7:10 a.m. Sunday. Nearly 2,400 triathletes, in 13 waves, took part in the fourth annual Iron Girl -- the largest such event in the country.
 
Professional triathlete Laurie Hug, 44, a swim coach at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pa., got off to a quick start in the swim and was never seriously challenged.

“I had a great swim,” said Hug, who won the women’s 30-34 age group at the USA Triathlon Nationals in 1999.

Hug pulled away from her nearest competitors in the .62-mile swim and stayed in front over the remaining 17.5-mile bike ride or the 3.3-mile run.

The end of the race had moments of discomfort, however.

“Unfortunately, I got blisters on my feet the final mile and a half of the race. Fortunately, I didn’t have to push it that hard,” she said.

Hug finished in 1 hour, 29 minutes, 13 seconds, three minutes ahead of Bethesda’s Kristen Andrews, the top amateur (1:32:03), and a full 12 minutes in front of the Utah’s Jolene Wilkinson, the second-place professional.

Virginia’s Shandra Richardson was the runner-up in the amateur competition. Columbia’s Suzy McCulloch finished third and Mount Airy’s Christy Lausch was fourth.

Baltimore’s Amanda Poppleton was the fastest of the first-time triathletes, a category that included nearly one-third of the field. Her time was 1:50:13.

Stephanie Katsion was also among the first-timers. The 20-year-old from Woodstock was distraught over the death of her friend, Andrew Noel, and decided to channel her anger, pain and grief into training for the Iron Girl in his honor.
 
Katsion and her mother, Susan, participated as one of the mother-daughter teams and used the Iron Girl as a fundraiser for the Andrew P. Noel Memorial Scholarship at Mt. Hebron High School.

Other Iron Girls also used the triathlon as a way to raise money for their favorite causes, including the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program and the Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County.

Complete race results can be found here.

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