It’s a race for all types of triathletes, but don’t think the competitive juices aren’t flowing.
The 11th annual Durango Parks and Recreation Triathlon is set for 8 a.m. Saturday at the Durango Recreation Community Center. Athletes between the ages of 13 and 69 make up a field of around 75 looking to finish the 16.38-mile race.
“It is kind of a beginner to veteran race. We have all different kinds of athletes from across the Four Corners,” race director Ashleigh Woodward said Thursday.
The race will begin with a 500-yard swim in the rec center lap pool. Athletes will finish the swim and hop on bicycles to begin a 13-mile bike ride from the rec center, up 32nd Street and onto County Road 250 before turning around and riding back. The race will finish with a 3.1-mile run on the Animas River Trail.
“The bike ride is a lot of fun. It is technically a road race, but some people don’t have road bikes and will use mountain bikes,” Woodward said.
Last year, 39-year-old woman Shannon Horn was the fastest to the finish line in 1 hour, 1 minute, 16.8 seconds. Stephen Hiatt, 48, finished in a close second place in 1:03:12.2, followed by Scott Ingram (1:07:01.2), Louis Vito (1:10:54.6) and Bill Sivert (1:11:53.3).
Horn finished the swim in 6:57, the bike in 32:42 and the run in 21:36.
None of last year’s top-five finishers are competing this year.
Proving a youngster can handle the mental challenge of a triathlon, Philip Lane crossed the finish line in 1:13:10.0 as a 17-year-old to take seventh place overall. Another 17-year-old, Andre Charley, was 10th overall in 1:15:10.3.
“What’s kind of cool about this race is you have some people who have no idea what they’re doing and are out there having fun, and then you have seasoned veterans who do this year round,” Woodward said. “It is cool to see the mix of people that finish the race.”
A few seasoned veterans Woodward expects to see finish at the top of the pack this year are 58-year-old Durango woman Marjorie Brinton, 38-year-old Ignacio man Robert Gram, 29-year-old Durango personal trainer Brian Miller, 31-year-old woman Casey Taylor and 44-year-old Bayfield man Bradley Weinmeister.
“It will be a fun race, and the barbeque and raffle after the race is always great when the athletes can come together with friends and family,” Woodward said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
