Smith gunning for win

| August 3, 2007 9:00 PM

SANDPOINT — Emerging triathlete and Sandpoint native Jeff Smith plans on doing all he can to ensure that an out-of-towner doesn't win the Olympic Triathlon Sunday in Dover Bay.

Smith, 25, works at Coldwater Creek and has been doing triathlons for four years. Already this year he's competed in seven races, and Sunday's race will be the first of three consecutive weekends of racing for Smith, who hopes to turn pro in 2008. Next week it's off to the Coeur d'Alene Triathlon, followed by the Ogden, Utah Mountain Championships.

Smith finished third at the prestigious Wildflower Half-Ironman in California earlier this year, calling it his best-ever finish. His training regimen consists of about five hours a week swimming, 12 hours a week biking and four hours a week running, although he'll spend most of the next few weeks simply recovering.

He believes he's got a great shot to win on Sunday, recognizing that Montana's Matt Seeley, one of the top triathletes in the Northwest, and Sandpoint's Trever Gray will be two of his chief competitors.

Gray, who was instrumental in bringing the triathlon to Dover Bay and after marking the course called it one of the prettiest in the Northwest, also wants to try and keep the title local. He will defend his Long Bridge Swim title on Saturday, and will be gunning for the double on Sunday.

"I'm going to try and win both, but it will be tough with Jeff Smith doing it," said Gray, who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the race to Sandpoint and is thrilled to have a triathlon to replace the now-defunct Lake To Forest Triathlon.

Smith will compete later this year in the XTERRA Worlds and Half-Ironman Worlds and figures he'll do close to 14 races this year alone. He competes in both off-road (XTERRA) and road triathlons, excelling at each.

"Olympic distance triathlons have a high heart rate for the entire race," said Smith, whose best-ever time is 1:52.43 in the 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run race. "XTERRA is extreme intensity and then rest. Olympic is about speed, XTERRA is about power."