Had everything gone according to plan, Traverse City’s Chris Girrbach would be finishing a triathlon in Arizona this weekend – and crossing off race number four on his ambitious plan to do a triathlon in every state. Instead, Girrbach is recovering from an accident that left him with two broken wrists, a broken arm, an injured knee, 15 stitches on his head, and internal bleeding on the back of his brain. But Girrbach – who is the owner and president of Great Lakes Potato Chips, as well as this year’s honoree at the Northwestern Michigan College Big Little Hero Race – is already thinking about when he’ll be able to get back to his coast-to-coast athletic project. He undertook the effort – dubbed Tri4Kids – as a way to raise awareness and money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan (Bigs), and he’s adamant that even a severe injury won’t stand in his way.

Girrbach is following in the footsteps of Cherryland Electric General Manager Tony Anderson, who, between 2003 and 2020, ran 51 marathons to raise money for Bigs – one in each state, plus Washington, D.C. When Anderson completed his marathon challenge, Girrbach felt like someone should pick up the mantle. That “someone” ended up being him.

“It was a pretty simple ‘Aha!’ moment,” Girrbach tells The Ticker. “I’d read an article about what Tony was doing, and I thought, ‘Hey, I'm a really lucky person; I have a great family, I have a great career, I have a great company and great people that work for me; I should do something.’ I thought what Tony did was really neat, because not only did it raise money for Bigs, but I think it also got people active, and that's really important, too. So I thought, ‘What can I do that would be similar to what Tony did, that would keep the momentum going, but that would be a little different so I can do my own thing?’ And then I thought triathlons.”

“I'm fortunate, and my kids are lucky to have a strong family,” Girrbach continues. “At the end of the day, a lot of the kids [that Bigs helps] get the short end of the stick – not through any fault of their own, but because of circumstance. If we can do something to help mitigate that, even a little bit – and have fun at the same time – then that feels like the right thing to do.”

Girrbach is no stranger to the kind of rigorous athletic activity that competing in a triathlon requires. He runs and bikes on a regular basis, and has tried out a variety of race types over the years – from 10ks to marathons to Traverse City’s inaugural IRONMAN race in 2019. That background meant it wasn’t such a wild proposition for him to start plotting a one-triathlon-in-every-state challenge.

There have been some hurdles along the way, though, even before Girrbach got hurt. Anderson was lucky in that he was able to complete 50 of his 51 marathons before COVID-19 shut the world down. Girrbach’s journey, on the other hand, was just starting when the pandemic struck, leaving him without any race prospects for the better part of a year.

“The idea was to get started in 2020,” Girrbach says. “But every race was canceled in 2020. there was nothing going on. I ended up finding one in Indiana that fall, so that’s where I started. Then I did Wisconsin and Illinois in 2021. And then I was supposed to do Arizona on Saturday, before this accident left me a lot less than 100 percent. But the goal is still to get another 2-3 races done this year. And then over the next 12-15 years, I’ll do 2-3 a year and keep that progression going.”

Routing a map of triathlons state-by-state has also proved challenging. For one thing, there aren’t as many triathlons out there as there are marathons. Girrbach says some states – especially landlocked ones like North Dakota – might only have a couple triathlon events per year, which can make the logistics of plotting a race calendar more complicated. For another thing, where Anderson had several extremely famous marathons he knew he wanted to hit as part of his journey – the Boston Marathon for his Massachusetts race, the New York City Marathon for his New York race – there are decidedly fewer hallowed traditions in the triathlon world.

The big “monster staple” in the triathlon community, Girrbach says, is the IRONMAN World Championship – known more simply as “Kona.” That race, held each year in Hawaii, is the most prestigious and competitive triathlon in the world, as well as the most difficult to qualify for. “I don't know that I would even get my hopes up about getting into that one,” Girrbach laughs. “I’ll probably just say, ‘Look, if around the time I’m thinking of doing that race, if I can get a lottery entry or something, that’s great.’ But it’s a pretty hard ticket to punch.”

For the most part, though, Girrbach says he’s keeping his options open. For instance, rather than limiting himself to traditional triathlons that involve a running leg, a biking leg, and a swimming leg, Girrbach is being flexible on what actually constitutes a “triathlon.”

“I've taken the word ‘triathlon’ just to mean three different sports,” Girrbach explains. “For example, there’s a race in upstate New York – and we might try to do it this fall – that is kayaking, biking, and running. And there are a couple winter triathlons that would be fun, which include cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and fat biking. So, I can be creative, because there are a whole bunch of different types of triathlon races out there.”

One thing that Girrbach does have set in stone? Where he wants to finish up his triathlon journey, whenever that day comes.

“I think that Michigan would be the last race,” he says. “And I think it would be cool to do it the way Tony did it, where maybe we organize our own race, and do it in Traverse City, and do it with a bunch of local people. That would be a nice capstone.”

First though, Girrbach has to recover from his recent injuries. Right now, he estimates that he should be able to get back to training in 4-6 weeks, with the possibility of racing again as early as this summer. “Every indication is that I’ll make a full recovery,” he says. “So I don’t see anything hindering this summer’s goal of knocking some of these races out.”