This tale of family athleticism began late in the 20th century — way back in 1999. That was the first occasion the four Ryan siblings — Jeff, David, Susan (Montgomery) and Kathie (Krempels) all competed in the Smith Mountain Lake triathlon.
But that annual event was hardly the first athletic accomplishment for the brothers and sisters. All of them played one or more sports as youths in upstate New York and in Christiansburg. The Ryans seem like one of those families whose calendar centered around attending basketball and football games, track and swimming meets and gymnastic events.
“We were well-supported by our mom and dad,” said Jeff Ryan, 68.
Each of the siblings was born in Corning, New York, which was also the hometown of their late parents, John and Marilyn Ryan. John was a mechanical engineer with Corning Glass Works, which relocated the family to Christiansburg in 1975.
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Now 67, Susan graduated from Christiansburg High that year, and Kathie, now 65, graduated in 1977. And from there most of the siblings moved far and wide.
David, now 69, decamped to Radford and a career in physical therapy. Susan followed a boyfriend to Tucson, Arizona, where she became a paralegal. Marilyn later joined her. (John died 1992, of a heart attack, swimming laps in a pool, training for a triathlon.)
Jeff headed to South Carolina and an engineering career with automaker BMW. And Kathie, wound up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Like her brother, David, she worked as a physical therapy assistant.
In 1999, the siblings decided to have a reunion at Smith Mountain Lake. One reason was to jointly compete in its sprint triathlon (a half-mile swim; 12-mile bike ride; 3-mile run). Another reason was to honor their deceased dad.
Marilyn, who by then had been widowed seven years, joined them. It was a fun event.
Flash forward 10 years, to 2009. Kathie was in Cheyenne, combing through old clothes to use in her next quilting project. One of the garments she stumbled across was her 1999 SML Triathlon shirt, which triggered fun memories.
She went online and found the SML Triathlon listing for that year. Impishly, she sent out a “save-the-date” email to her siblings. Surprisingly, they quickly accepted.
Marilyn decided to join them. And she had her own surprise in store.
Before traveling east for the race, she contacted The Roanoke Times. She wound up talking to our former outdoors editor, Mark Taylor. The resulting full-page spread about the triathlon focused on the Ryan family and their reunion at the race to honor their deceased dad.
Among other questions, Taylor’s story also answered one that no doubt was on the minds of other competitors that day: Why are people from Wyoming and Arizona competing at all in Huddleston, Virginia?
Though the Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon attracts hundreds of competitors annually, it’s dominated by racers from the Mid-Atlantic.
And Taylor’s article quoted Marilyn: “I just think that it’s great that they‘re active enough and happy enough to do this,” she told Taylor. “They’re already talking about doing it in 10 years. I don’t know if I’ll be around then.”
Flash forward another 10 years. The Ryans honored John again by competing in the 2019 Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon. This time, the third occasion, the siblings had some of their own offspring show up to swim, bike and run.
And at age 88, Marilyn was there too, cheering proudly from the sidelines. Sadly, that was her last family triathlon. She died in the fall of 2019. Then came COVID, which disrupted a lot of events.
This year, the family decided make the 2024 Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon its fourth in 25 years. This one is to honor not only John, but also Marilyn. It’ll be bittersweet without her around.
For this occasion, Susan was the Ryan family member who tipped the newspaper and suggested a story, which you’re reading.
Wednesday afternoon, the Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon webpage noted that more than 360 competitors had signed up, with 132 entries still up for grabs.
“There’s nine of us competing in all,” Kathie Krempels told me from her home in Wyoming. One of them will be her son, Ryan Krempels, an emergency-room physician from Colorado. It’ll mark his first triathlon, Kathie said.
She, David and Jeff are racing individually, while Susan will be part of a relay. All of the siblings I spoke to — except David — predicted David would have the fastest times of the four racing Ryan senior citizens.
“He always does,” said Jeff, who competed with his brother in a recent spring marathon outside Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We’re all in different age groups,” David told me diplomatically. “We’re all going to do our best,” he said.
John and Marilyn were unavailable for comment. That’s the way life goes, right?
Probably they’ll be cheering from the hereafter.