Vachee Loughran
Many may recognize Vachee as the overall winner of the 2017 Transamerica Chicago Triathlon, with a time of 2:01:12; in fact, at 45, the Glenview resident is one of the race’s oldest winners. However, triathlon is nothing new to Vachee, as he started the sport in 1995 when he was a janitor at an athletic club, and a trainer encouraged him to start. This year alone, Vachee has earned six first place overall triathlon wins, including Leon’s Triathlon, the Big Foot Triathlon, Wauconda Triathlon, Glenview Spring Triathlon, the Chicago Triathlon and the North Shore Sprint Triathlon. He also placed sixth in his age group at the USAT Nationals. “For me the training is the fun part, the racing is too stressful and anxiety inducing.”
Alyssa Schneider
Alyssa has been a running all-star since being on the cross country and track teams at Bartlett High School, beginning in 2007. She finished All-State in Cross Country once, and three times in the 1600 meter in track. She continued running at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, finishing all-conference twice in track and once in cross country. Now, Alyssa runs with the New Balance Chicago Team, and completed her first marathon at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 8 with a time of 2:42:50. She says her career highlight is when she finished 17th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2015; her half marathon PR is 1:16:50, her 10K is 34:24 and her 5K is 16:13.
