1988 to 2000

An intimate look into the history of the
HFP Racing family.
Long before HFP Racing was what it is today, there was a dream. Shannon Kurek (aka HFP Man) was nearing graduation from Madison High School in Mansfield in 1987 and spent his High School career as a lightweight wrestler finishing his senior year at the improbable weight of 126. With no plans to wrestle in college, Shannon wanted to find a sport that would keep him very fit but that allowed him to eat normally. Amazingly, a one‐and‐
done “biathlon” would come to Mansfield in the spring of 1987 and forever change the life of Shannon Kurek. The tremendous fatigue and rubbery legs brought on by this 20 mile bike, 5 mile run event formed an immediate love/hate bond with the ex‐wrestler. However, to find his next “multisport” fix would take some time and resources. In 1988, events of the multisport nature were few and far between so Shannon set out to change that and bring one to his training grounds in the Mohican area. Eventually, Shannon would find his way into the office of his Aunt Sandi, at the time the Wellness Director of the local hospital in Mansfield (now Med Central), to brainstorm an idea of putting on a triathlon at Pleasant Hill Lake Park. Sandi suggested they needed a name to get things started and with her health and wellness background along with Shannon’s pursuit of fitness, the name Health and Fitness Promotions was decided. First Triathlon – June 1988 Family owned and operated Shannon’s dad cheers on Shannon at Shannon’s Aunt Sandi and Mom Carol played a huge role in the early years. Charlie’s Canoe Triathlon in Bellbrook. Health and Fitness Promotions’ (HFP) first event was the Mid‐Ohio Bicycle Series. This was started to give Shannon Kurek and his family some RD (Race Director) experience before the Mid Ohio Heart Clinic Challenge that September of 1989. They assumed the finish of the bike race would be really spread out because of the terrain in Mid‐Ohio and timing would be a snap. However, when the first 30 riders flew through the finish line at 35mph Shannon just looked at the timers (his Mom, girlfriend and her mom) and screamed, "Did you get those numbers?!!" Of course they did not get a single race number and thankfully the riders figured as much and circled back around (in finishing order) and gave them their race numbers. Then it all worked out just like Shannon planned it would. 1988
1989
Mid‐Ohio Bicycle Series – April 1989 This is where is all started ‐ the first ever race start for Health and Fitness Promotions in Lucas, Ohio.
Mid‐Ohio Bicycle Series – June 1989 HFP Man and his lieutenants; Shawn Williams, Todd Kurek, Brian Shind and Mike Markham.
By the middle of the summer of 1989, HFP was sporting some sporty polos and starting to look like a real organization. In the above photo, Shannon announces another winner and Shawn Williams hands off the hardware with Shannon’s brother, Todd Kurek (trucker hat and coaching shorts), Brian Shind and Mike Markham look on. The Mid‐Ohio Bicycle Series ended up having a very loyal following including body builder turned master cyclist, Curt Haywood, Sr. Curt who won the title of “Mr. World” in 1970. Curt would become a dear friend of the Kurek family and eventually introduced his son, Curt Jr., to Shannon and a lifelong training bond was formed. After a week of gorgeous September weather in 1989, race day arrived for the inaugural Mid‐Ohio Heart Clinic Challenge with cold temperatures and rain. Shannon and his team had already been up most of night and with just 30 minutes before the scheduled start; Shannon realized the swim course was yet to be set up. “No problem,” Shannon thought, and grabbed one of his mates and told him to get in a canoe and take out the buoys with him. By the time they got to the canoes, most of the participants were down at the beach wondering what the course was going to be. As they attempted to canoe the course buoys out, a strong wind pushed against them and they could paddle no more than 10 yards off the shore. Eventually a park ranger felt sorry for them and called over a boat and the course was quickly put out. After that, the sun came out and a pretty good event took place in Perrysville, Ohio that day. Mid‐Ohio Heart Clinic Challenge – September 1989 Rip Esselstyn on his way to one of his many victories in 1989. 1990‐1991
Wild Wilderness Biathlon – May 1991 HFP Man working hard at Atwood Lake Park in Deersville, Ohio. In early 90’s, the sport of “biathlon” (run‐bike‐run) was booming with the national Coors Light Biathlon Series hitting huge turnouts all across the country at major city events. In the 90’s, biathlon was certainly considered the more sexy sport over triathlon and had the high profile professionals to prove it. Many of these pros graced the covers of “Triathlete” magazine, “Runners World” magazine and more including the King himself – Kenny Souza. In 1991, HFP produced the first ever biathlon in a little town called Deersville in Northeast Ohio. Deersville’s only claim to fame was the birth place of Mark Moore. Mark was ahead of his time and in the early 80’s opened a multisport store called “Triathlete” in Columbus well before there was a demand for such a multisport specific store. Mark would close the doors to “Triathlete” and move to Colorado to start a small timing company named “Timberline Timing” which would eventually score the contract to time the Ironman World Championships in Kona for many years. Attended by fewer than 150 participants the Wild Wilderness Biathlon took participants on a very challenging 5k trail run before sending them out on a daunting up and down 30k bike ride. After surviving the bike ride, participants took on a final 5k trail run. Without GPS back then to provide accurate measurements, the 5k course was approximate and most argued it was closer to 6k or 7k. A young Nate Llerandi from Chicago dominated the race outclassing a regional field that would later prove to be a precursor to turning Pro later that same season. Covering that event for “Ohio Runner” magazine was Mark Lemmon. He would later go on to write for “Inside Triathlon” magazine for nearly 2 decades before hanging up his writing pen to enjoy more training time with his teammates, Shannon Kurek and Curt Haywood, Jr. King Kenny Souza The start of the Wild Wilderness Biathlon – May 1991 Runner’s World Magazine Check out the killer outfits on those racers (reporter Mark Lemmon #3) Springfield Ironhorse – June 1990 Shannon gets ready to take on the 40 mile bike course in Springfield, IL Ironhorse. White Star Triathlon – July 1991 Shannon Kurek and Jon Hastings discuss their race. From 1989 through 1994 the only staff HFP employed was family that came at a cost of free t‐shirts and cheap accommodations for the weekend. But everyone felt the same way; something special was being created and the sport was on the cusp of becoming main stream and someday they could see this sport in the Olympics. In the early 90’s most state parks were so busy during the day that the HFP family could only set up after dark which led to many races with them running on fumes by the end of race day. HFP – A Family Company Shannon and Jennifer were surrounded by many family and friends all working together to make the events happen. At the end of a busy season of racing in 1991, Shannon and Jennifer got the great opportunity to travel to the first ever Duathlon World Championships held in Palm Springs, California in a demanding 10k run – 60k bike – 10k run format. Shannon got the unique privilege of representing the U.S. as a member of “Team USA”. Shannon made the team at a qualifying event in Indianapolis just 5 weeks before the race. Unseasonably cool temperatures (obviously not too cold for speedos) and super high winds made for a very challenging day of racing. Shannon rounded out the top 10 in the 18‐24 age group and finished in the top 50 overall. Palm Springs, CA – November 1991 Shannon Kurek competes in the first ever Duathlon World Championships 1992
In 1992, Shannon’s passion for multisport brought together a motley crew of athletes that would form the first ever, “Team HFP”. They lived and trained with a “Steve Prefontaine”‐like fervor for life and if you could hang with these guys you were likely the next member on the team. It was not uncommon to see this small team of warriors drafting on the back of a Columbus COTA city bus through downtown at 35mph or running over car hoods on the way to another long run through the streets on the campus of The Ohio State University! This passion for life and the sport catapulted the founding members of the team to quite successful careers. Curt Haywood, Jr. is currently a senior staff member at The Ohio State University Counseling and Consulting Services department. Mark Gorman is an engineer and the editor of “Ohio Outside” an online webzine. Adam Moyer graduated from OSU’s cinematography program and lives in LA where he is the producer for the widely popular reality show, “Orange County Choppers”. Today, Team HFP is about 70 strong and supports a wide range of ability levels, with many still living their lives by the spirit of “Pre”; “to give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift,” Steve Prefontaine. Most of the early members of the team now have kids that are now racing and as a result, in 2013, Team HFP will be officially offering a junior program for children ages 7‐14 on their way to becoming our future Olympians. The founding Team HFP members Adam Moyer, Mark Gorman and Shannon Kurek Not pictured Curt Haywood, Jr. Frankfurt, Germany – May 1992 Shannon Kurek and Jennifer Butler at the Duathlon World Championships. Frankfurt, Germany – May 1992 Shannon Kurek runs along the Rhine River in downtown Frankfurt, Germany Cincinnati Biathlon – May 1992 Shannon Kurek, Scott Galehouse and Curt Haywood, Jr. chase Dana Lyons (not pictured) at the Cincinnati Biathlon.
Sardinia Biathlon – July 1992 Curt Haywood, Jr., Shannon Kurek and Mark Gorman Partners for life – August 1992 Shannon Kurek and Jennifer Butler 1993
On April 17, 1993, Shannon marries his business partner, Jennifer Butler. Shannon met Jennifer at Ball State University in 1989 during his one semester at the university. Sitting in Exercise Science 101 class, Shannon passed a note to Jennifer (trying to impress her) that read, “I’m the president of Health and Fitness Promotions.” Jennifer wrote back, “Awesome……how can I get involved?” Little did she know at the time, but that note would change both their lives forever. Shannon left Ball State before even getting a chance to take Jennifer on a date and kept in touch via letters from time to time as a friend. Then in May of 1991, Shannon decided to look her up in her hometown of Harrison, Ohio while on his way south to race in the popular Memphis in May Triathlon. Jennifer’s father, Carl, was quite surprised when this neon‐pink‐shorts‐wearing‐bleached‐blond‐hair‐Prefontaine‐looking young man approached him in their driveway looking for his daughter. As shocked as Carl was, it still did not stop Shannon from recruiting him the following season to be the official (volunteer) computer timer for HFP. Wedding Day – April 17, 1993 Shannon and Jennifer Kurek VersaClimber World Record – April 1993 Pre‐VersaClimber – April 1993 Shannon Kurek chats with 10TV’s Dom Tiberi before going on to set a new VersaClimber World Record of 11hrs 15min @ 100ft per minute pace. Shannon Kurek and Jennifer Butler pose prior to Shannon taking on the VersaClimber world record. HFP Official Timing Crew Jen’s Mom & Dad, Carl and Donna Butler Dallas, Texas – October 1993 th
Shannon Kurek finishes 5
in 20‐24 age group in 1993 Duathlon World Championships. Pictured to his immediate left is Dave “Boots” Boutilliar & Dana Lyons. In May of 1994, HFP brought big time racing to the State Capital of Ohio with the Columbus Classic Duathlon. In 1995, the Columbus Saturn Car Company came on board as the title sponsor and took the race to another level. The innovative Saturn Duathlon featured a 2‐lap bike course that went through the campus of The Ohio State University and the upscale Short North area. The run courses looped through the eclectic community of German Village and through downtown via High Street and Front Street. Amateurs raced first at 8:00am followed by a spectator friendly multi lap professional race at 11:00am. Over 600 amateurs started this race making it the largest duathlon in Ohio at the time. New York’s Dave “Boots” Boutilliar won the amateur race with some stiff competition coming from Columbus’s own, Tom Knopp. Dave would become a multiple winner of the event and even proposed to his girlfriend at the start line. Along with opening the Rochester, NY “Fleet Feet”, Dave and his wife would later start up “Yellow Jacket Racing” in 1989. This company was an event management company modeled after HFP. 1994
Over the years, the Saturn Duathlon pro race would attract world class athletes like Kenny Souza (the most prolific male duathlete of all time), Jeff Devlin, Heather Fuhr (multiple Ironman Champion), Liz Downing (the most prolific female duathlete of all time), Maddy Tormoen, 2008 Olympian Carol Montgomery, Michael Tobin and New Zealand’s, Jamie Hunt. With the duathlon glamour era ending with the death of the Coors Light Duathlon Series in 1992, the 1995 Saturn Duathlon rekindled the fire of the sport. That year, “Triathlete Magazine” referred to the Saturn Duathlon as “Duathlons Second Coming” on the June 1995 cover. Columbus Classic ‐ May 1994 Columbus Classic ‐ May 1994 Curt Haywood, Jeff Prinze, Don Chandler and Dana Lyons Mark Lemmon working hard on the run. Pleasant Hill Lake Park – Sept 1994 Team HFP, Gregg Slayton runs out of T2. Gregg would later transform the HFP brand with his design work in the 2000’s. Columbus Classic – May 1994 Team HFP member, Jeff Prinze meets his hero Chucky V with his trademarked spiked Mohawk under his hat. Columbus Classic – May 1994 Team HFP members Brian Wright and Michael Carmean work the booth next to our team sponsor “Rip n Hammer”. 1995
June of 1995, HFP debuts the first ever simultaneous triathlon and duathlon series to the delight of our land loving customers. For the first time ever, duathletes were competing with triathletes on the same courses. Shannon was inundated with phone calls from RD’s across the country wanting to know how HFP was doing this. It’s nearly laughable to think this was such a cutting edge idea, but back then things were much simpler and most events were still being hand timed which made this seem like a formidable task to undertake. Within a couple years this became the standard for events across the U.S. Shannon and Jennifer capped off the season with a trip to the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Hueston Woods State Park – July 1995 Start of duathlon portion of the Ohio Challenge Series Ironman Parade of Nations – October 1995 Shannon & Jennifer (and Brother Todd) finish the 1995 season in Kona, HI Gulf Coast Half Ironman – May 1995 Shannon Kurek with good buddy Michael Folan (Founder Infinit Nutrition) get ready for an early season half ironman. Ironman World Championships – Oct 1995 Shannon Kurek finishes as top Ohioan in 10:32:35. Kona, Hawaii – October 1995 Mark Lemmon poses with Shannon Kurek and Jeff “Hot” Watern after completing the first ever SOLOMAN (entire Ironman course by himself). In 1996, HFP accepted its first intern from The Ohio State University. This bright young man worked alongside Shannon on race weekends and did most of the pre‐race operations needed for a successful race. This intern also wrote a simple program on his computer that he said “would transform race registration”. He offered HFP to be the first ever company to do “online registration” for all its races. Shannon balked at the idea and said, “no one will ever register for a race with a computer!” With no company willing to give it a try, the intern gave up the pursuit. Scott Schnitzspahn was that intern and Scott would later go on to serve as USA Triathlon’s Sports 1996
Performance Director. Currently, Scott is the USA Olympic Committee’s High Performance Director. The second intern to work for HFP came from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Kelly Reese was finishing her journalism degree and came on board to help HFP with a magazine venture called “Midwest Multisport Magazine”. The magazine venture only lasted 4 issues and Kelly would later go on to become a professional triathlete. She would meet and marry Matty “Boom Boom” Reed and open Boom Yogurt Bar in Boulder, CO. Helen Fat Tire Festival – November 1996 HFP Racing finished out the season in Helen, GA. This small town would become Shannon’s favorite training grounds and future training camp. ‘s
Hueston Woods – July 1996 Scott Schnitzspahn sings Happy Birthday to Shannon Kurek before the race. 1996 was the year of the Ohio IRONTOUR at Pleasant Hill Lake Park in Perrysville, Ohio. This very unique team event featured a multi‐race format over 3‐days which modeled the French Irontour. One of the days featured an epic point‐to‐point relay that started with a ½ mile swim, then a 13 mile road bike to Shannon’s Grandma’s farm in Mansfield, followed by a 20 mile mountain bike and finished with a relay run back to the park of 13 miles. The overall winners of the event were a team made up of the legendary Scott Tinley, Marcel Vithian and Scott Schumaker. The event received wild praise but the park was not available the following year and it never made it past year one. Ohio IRONTOUR – July 1996 Shannon Kurek poses with Overall winners Scott Schumaker, Marcel Vithian and Scott Tinley. After the epic fail with the magazine venture in 1996, HFP reluctantly launched their first website in 1997, www.hfpracing.com. As with most websites at the time, the website was nothing more than a listing service. In 1997, HFP was still relying on printed collateral materials for 99% of their marketing and to grow its business. Shannon was still convinced the World Wide Web was just a fad and unless you can take your computer to the bathroom, then it’s a waste of time. SCREEN SHOT FROM WWW.HFPRACING.COM 1997
After several years of finishing the season off at Pleasant Hill Lake Park in Perrysville, Ohio the Ohio Challenge Series moved to the beautiful Shawnee State Park from 1997‐2000. Known for its challenging terrain and run course on the infamous Lamp Black Run fire road, this venue provided some epic battles. For the men it was a run of 3 straight years for Alan Boos who battled Jeff “Hot” Watern in the triathlon and Rene Englehardt in the duathlon. Alan would of probably went 4 out of 4 but did not race in 2000 setting up a great dual between Shannon Kurek and Tom Lebuhn with Shannon besting the elder Lebuhn by less than 90 seconds. Michelle Kitze was the dominant female in the triathlon during this era and was nearly unbeatable during the 90’s along with Anne Marie Phillips and Cheryl Chaney. Peggy Fortune was outclassing the field in the duathlon. The difficulty and remote location kept the masses away and in 2001 the series moved to permanent home in Akron, Ohio at Portage Lakes State Park. 1997
Caesar Creek State Park – July 1997 Michelle Kitze was never one to be behind the technology curve. Here she is sporting a Zipp Beam Bike and aero helmet. 1998 brought on the return of the U.S. Triathlon Series by triathlon entrepreneur, Dan Empfield, of the now famous Slowtwitch.com. At the time of the series return, Dan was at the helm of “Quintana Roo” and thought the time was right for the once thriving series to be revived and choose Columbus, Ohio as one of the eight cities. Bally Total Fitness took on the title sponsorship and each series stop had a $25,000 prize purse along with a strong marketing presence in each market. HFP made a major faux pas by announcing the event to take place in downtown Columbus with the swim in the river. Though we gained approval to swim in the river the local triathlon community questioned the choice and wondered aloud if the river was actually safe. With the spring being very wet and rivers being very swollen through early May, the decision was made to move the event to Deer Creek State Park. A field of about 400 took part with Olympic Silver Medalist, Michelle Jones, and Ohio native, Nick Radkewich, taking home the top prizes. United States Triathlon Series – August 1998 Deer Creek State Park hosted the Columbus stop of the series. 1999 was a challenging year – HFP had the most events on our calendar in its history along with putting the full iron distance Mohican Pineman Triathlon to close out the season. The year included the Kenda Ohio Mountain Bike Series, Scott Tinley’s Dirty Adventure in North Carolina, the Ohio Challenge Series and the Ohio Adventure Race Series with many of the mountain bike and adventure races taking place on back to back race days on a given weekend. Add to that the introduction of long distance adventure racing at the Galyans’ Appalachian Adventure in Chillicothe in July. The good thing about the ’99 season was the weather; it was hot and sunny every day. No rain for weeks upon weeks. Rain clouds would come around but the rain would not even make it to the ground. This was good for RD’s to produce races but it setup a perfect storm scenario for the September Pineman Triathlon. The night before the Pineman Triathlon at Pleasant Hill Lake Park, the clouds opened up and for the first time in months the course was hammered with rain for several hours. The additional amount of moisture in the air from the rain and a cooler September night made for some serious fog. The fog did not lift on race morning and was so thick many participants could not find the park. The start of the race was postponed. Later, with many anxious athletes raring to get started on a long day of racing, the USAT official on site hesitantly gave the OK to start the event. But that was a huge mistake. 1999
Mohican Pineman – September 1999 Disoriented swimmers arrive to the shore looking for loved ones and warm blankets. When the start horn sounded, there was about a 200 meters of visibility which was assumed to be enough. However, within 5 minutes of the swim portion, the churning of the water by the athletes must have caused the fog to drop down onto the lake and no one could see the swimmers or even the water. It was a VERY serious situation and Shannon was not quite sure how to deal with it. The swimmers had to be evacuated; however, they could no longer see the beach. Swimmers were swimming in all directions trying to locate land. Immediately park rangers drove to the beach and put on their sirens hoping to guide the participants back to the beach by sound. Visibility was so bad that not only were participants lost on the lake, but the rescue teams on the water were afraid to move their boats and canoes in the water, in fear they may run over swimmers. After about 90 long minutes, all participants were finally accounted for and race staff and volunteers collectively sighed a deep breath of relief. The race was restarted with a “Lemans style” run to their bikes and a shortened bike ride to 56 miles (due to bad fog on much of the bike course), followed by the 26.2 mile run. The internet forums were just starting to get popular at the time and many of the disappointed participants took their vitriol to the forums and it really hurt Shannon deeply. After nearly a week of reading comments not worth repeating, Shannon had made the decision that he was done being a race promoter and needed to get away. The following Thursday, he made his way back to his stomping grounds in the Mohican area with his bike for a long bike and run workout. Ironically he started his bike ride from the very park that had just hosted the Pineman. After enjoying the bike ride through the gorgeous Mohican area and across the famous covered bridge, Shannon started to get his mojo back. When he arrived back to his car, he made the decision to run 13 miles of the Pineman course. His spirits lifted so much during the run he knew his days as a RD were not finished. Scott Tinley’s Dirty Adv. – June 1999 University of Dayton’s Dr. Jon Linderman crosses the finish line of his very first triathlon. Mohican Pineman – September 1999 Moments before the start, nervous participants give an interview to local T.V. (Pictured Steve Nelson and Shannon’s Pastor, John Hayes) Scott Tinley’s Dirty Adv. – June 1999 Unidentified girl and Scott Young pose with Shannon showing off their overall winners’ prizes. American Birkebeiner – Feb 1999 “Ok…that was hard,” Shannon Kurek states after his 6+ hour effort. Mohican Pineman – September 1999 After making sure all participants were accounted for, a brief Lemans style start got things started back up for the now shortened event. See fog still in trees! American Birkebeiner – February 1999 Ironman FL – Nov 1999 Shannon Kurek and Mark Lemmon start their season in Hayward, WI and did battle with With his mojo back, Shannon finished 12,000 participants at this historic 50k cross country ski race. (10:28) the inaugural Ironman Florida. It seems every year someone special enters Shannon & Jennifer’s lives as a result of participating in their events and 2000 was not an exception. Moreover, it was an over the top gesture of goodwill that has yet to be topped. Kris and Andi Henthorn (and their dog Jake) decided in 2000 they would put their lives on hold and become part of the HFP Racing family. Kris and Andi not only volunteered their time but their lives. Where Shannon and Jennifer went in 2000, Kris and Andi went – every triathlon, mountain bike and adventure race Kris and Andi were alongside them. They would not take any compensation outside of letting Kris jump into race when able – which he did very well and on subpar equipment. At the series championship at Shawnee State Park and the final event of their season of volunteering, Kris managed a top 3 overall performance in the duathlon. At the awards ceremony after Shannon handed Kris his plaque he told Kris he had one more thing to give him – and out comes Jennifer with a brand new Cervelo P3 bicycle. After the tears stopped flowing from Kris and Andi (and many others in the room), Kris thanks everyone in attendance and then told Shannon and Jennifer how much the 2000 season was a blessing to them in so many ways. What Kris and Andi did not know at the time; that is exactly what Shannon and Jennifer were thinking too. 2000