We have a few snippets left from our trip to Des Moines for the Hy-Vee ITU World Cup triathlon, from which St. Louisan Sarah Haskins emerged as an Olympian.

1. What a job by the organizers in Des Moines, basically to reinvent their event on 10 days notice. With rivers flooded, lakes filled with bacteria and original venues under water, they easily could have called the whole thing off. Instead, they relocated the event and made it a dry event, substituting a 5K run for the 1,500 meter swim. Not everyone was happy, so the organizers held out hope and were ready to readjust if the bacteria levels in the lakes decreased.

They got their wish and shifted again on the fly, reinstating the swim for everyone at a new venue.

A triathlon is a mammoth undertaking, which requires cooperation from police, street, fire, paramedic and parks departments. Any one of them could have dragged its feet and put the kibosh on the event, and no one really would have blamed them, considering that they had emergency management to juggle with displaced families and crops under water. Instead, they pulled oars together and pulled off the event on three days notice.

The folks in Des Moines and with Hy-Vee should fire up a power-point presentation for their fellow event organizers, explaining how to handle natural disasters and still hold mega-events.

2. Sarah Haskins had a huge cheering section, roughly 40 relatives from St. Louis and a dozen or so in-laws from Minnesota. We caught up with two of them, her father, Brian, and brother-in-law Austin Lauck. Each wore a T-shirt that said “Sarah Haskins” on the front and was personalized on the back. with “Sarah’s Dad” and “Sarah’s Sister’s Husband” on the back.

She’ll have a nice cheering section in Beijing, too. Brian said he and his wife will attend as will about 10 family members. They had to take a leap of faith, paying for tickets and accommodations in April and applying for visas shortly thereafter.

How much had he invested in the trip?

$10,000.

He’ll get a good return on his investment.