Nickel: Some of world's best triathlon athletes will compete in two events in Milwaukee

Six months ago, when the snow was falling and swimming in Devil's Lake was a dream, Jackie Hering was pretty sure she was done. And retiring.

After 12 seasons of professional racing, two kids and a nasty illness, the Cedar Grove triathlete was convinced she had entered the next phase of her life, which didn’t include professional racing. And she was at peace with it, she said, thinking she would “just be a normal mom.”

Thankfully for us in Wisconsin, and for the sport, Hering had a change of heart, because the 38-year-old Madison-area native and UW-La Crosse grad is our guide to show what the new Professional Triathletes Organisation is, and what it means to have the PTO's U.S. Open in Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday.

“PTO is a great organization working to elevate professional triathlon,” Hering said. “We're trying to do that by making these big races, capturing footage and stories from all the top men and women. It’s super exciting that people can see Olympic champions and people who've been at the top of all different sports – swimming, cycling – and get to see them in person, in action.”

In Milwaukee, there is the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships

It might be confusing, but there are two triathlons this weekend on Milwaukee’s lakefront; one is new, one you might recall from past years.

The first: The Professional Triathletes Organisation is a London-based governing body of dozens of the best triathletes in the world, who are tracked by PTO’s world rankings. Established with its first full season in 2022, there are events all over the world in a unique distance: 2K swim, 80K bike and 18K run. Athletes compete for prize money as professionals.

PTO named Milwaukee its site for the PTO U.S. Open for 2023. The best men in the world will race on Friday and the women on Saturday, and the races are in the evening (4:15 p.m.), which is also unique, since most races are in the mornings.

The second Milwaukee tri is an amateur event: USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships (and Youth & Junior Nationals), and it will the same weekend, in the same place. There will be overall champions as well as age group winners. The Olympic-distance race for men and women is Saturday morning and the sprint-distance race for amateur men and women is Sunday morning.

Organizers expect more than 7,000 athletes and estimate as many as 20,000 spectators over the three days of the two triathlon events.

(And let’s hope for good weather and no Canadian wildfires.)

Jackie Hering trains in Wisconsin

After swimming and running during her time at UW-La Crosse from 2003-07, Hering tried her first triathlon in West Salem in 2005. She kept racing faster, better, stronger – and longer distances.

By 2013, Hering was the women’s IRONMAN Wisconsin champion after catching the leader around Mile 16 of the run. Her grandmother placed the gold medal around her shoulders, and it was Hering’s lone IRONMAN title out of 21 career Ironman full races. She started a family and wouldn’t go the full IRONMAN distance again.

Her career took off. Snowshoe Half Marathon national champion and Buffalo Springs 70.3 champion in 2015. Second-place American woman at the 70.3 world championships in 2018. Top 10 in the 70.3 world championships in 2021. Escape from Alcatraz champion in 2022.

Meanwhile, Hering and her husband also created The Big Swell Swim, a well-known open-water race that can draw 500 swimmers, many of whom are gearing up for IMWI (Ironman Wisconsin). But Hering put The Big Swell on pause for 2023.

She’s been a warrior, really, in her comeback.

Highs and lows of 2022

Hering won North American championships in May 2022, racing in her best shape.

Then she became ill with COVID-19 in July 2022. She had extreme fatigue. Her body felt out of whack in every way. And she battled chest pain for months. She took a lot of tests.

“It ended up to be some inflammation around the rib cartilage,” Hering said. “I started getting some laser treatments and seeing this chiropractor that reset some of my ribs.”

She’s recovered now, but it took a lot of diligence, both in accepting that she needed to rest, and that her heart rate climbs higher when she’s exerting herself.

“I was already committed to go to Collins Cup (PTO's flagship event) and I possibly made it worse by trying to do too much too soon and pushing my body when I probably should have rested,” Hering said. “My body, I was just feeling, wasn’t cooperating with doing triathlon anymore. And I thought, OK, I've done a lot of good things, I could stop and I could just be a normal mom.”

Her husband asked her to wait a bit and reconsider. And around that time, PTO made the announcement that it was coming to Milwaukee.

Making a comeback

Hering, by her world ranking, qualified for PTO's U.S. Open Milwaukee championships. She’s one of 11 American women in the field and is joined by another Wisconsinite, Annamarie Strehlow of Shorewood, who was given a wild-card entry.

More: Shorewood's Annamarie Strehlow ready to accomplish next goal as professional Ironman competitor

In past triathlon races at Milwaukee's lakefront, athletes inevitably talk about the water leg of the three-sport race. Lake Michigan is … fun ... for swimmers. The water can literally change in a moment.

The Herings keep a boat at McKinley Marina, so they know.

“In that little bay there, or whatever you want to call it, where they have us swim – that's different and people are worried about the water not turning over and the water not having enough flow to stay clean,” Hering said. Her husband assures her it will be OK; it's a valid concern.

“I think it's totally fine,” Hering said. “There's a lot of weird swims out there and you just really just try not to drink the water. No matter where you are.”

Hering is a stellar runner, even in this loaded field, and spectators will be able to catch all points of the PTO and the USA triathlon if they want.

“It's really fun racing at home when I can have a lot of friends and family and acquaintances out and around,” Hering said. “I find that to be a really positive distraction. It keeps my mind off any pressures I might invent for myself."

The prize fund for the PTO Open is $600,000 per event – with $100,000 for the winner, $50,000 for second and $35,000 for third. PTO says it is the most lucrative in the sport over this distance.

Had Hering retired, she would have missed this. She’s a pioneer for the PTO, though, and she’s healthy. All that's left to do is let the race weekend unfold.

“I'm so excited that I'm still racing and I get to be a part of this PTO scene the first few years,” Hering said. “It is something that's going to be really cool. When I'm older, when I'm a grandma, I can tell my people when the PTO and triathlon is huge, and everyone knows about it. I'm gonna be like, ‘back in the day...’”

The day is now.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Nickel: Professional Triathlon races join amateurs in Milwaukee