MCCANDLESS - Mac Martin estimates that he's won between 30 and 40 triathlons during his lifetime.

And it all started in Butler County.

The 1972 North Allegheny High School graduate competed in his first triathlon at Moraine State Park in 1983, taking first place.

The 50-year old's latest triumph came Sunday morning in North Park at the 2005 Summer National Senior Games.

Martin finished the event, which included a 400-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and 5-kilometer run in 59 minutes, .39 seconds.

The time was the best of more than 100 males competing in seven different age groups.

"The hardest part of it all is just trying not to go too fast or too slow," said Martin. "You have to stay at an even pace. Today, I swam the first two laps of the swimming too fast and I had to back off a bit."

He also won two medals in cycling last week; a gold in the 40K race and a silver in the 5K event.

Martin is no stranger to the course. He also finished first in North Park in the Pennsylvania State Senior Championships, earning him a spot in Sunday's race.

The Bradford Woods native moved to State College in 1997. To keep in shape for such events, he commutes to work everyday - on his mountain bike.

"It's 50 miles (roundtrip)," said Martin. "Other than that, I swim and run twice a week."

Martin swam at both North Allegheny and the University of Pittsburgh. He was also on the National Cycling Team in the early 1980s.

Zelienople's Tom Murray finished fourth in his age bracket (60-64) with a finish of 1:16.21.

Fred Thompson of Massachusetts won the age group with a time of 1:13.33.

This year marks the fourth straight Summer National Senior Games Murray has taken part in and he believes North Park provided the stiffest test yet.

"We obviously don't have the same kind of heat that Disney World (1999) or Louisiana State University (2001) had," he said. "But this is the only course that has hills. Actually, there's only one hill, but we had to get over it four times."

Murray won the triathlon in 1999 and 2001 before finishing second in 2003 (Virginia Beach).

"I'm slipping," he said with a laugh.

The 63-year old was in second place following the cycling leg, but was passed by two competitors in the 5K run.

"I shouldn't have let it happen, but it did," he said.

"My swim time was better than I expected, but my time on the bike was slower. And I knew I'd have some trouble in the run."

Murray plans to compete in several more triathlons over the course of the summer.

"Last year, I competed in Iron Man competitions in Hawaii and Lake Placid, along with four other national events," he said. "So I think I'm going to stick with local stuff the rest of the summer."