Lake Powell Triathlon

Hi Blog! Today is Saturday, October 24, 2015. As is our usual custom in the morning, we make coffee and take it for walk around the neighborhood. We had planned on visiting the other loops in our campground, but when we looked down toward the marina, we could see that a huge crowd had formed. We decided to investigate. Our first impression was a marathon, but as we got closer we could see dozens of bikes lined up. Wait, if this is a bike race, why are all the participants wearing wetsuits. Just then, the lightning bolt struck - Triathlon! Not everyday you wake up to find a triathlon in your front yard.

As we approached the starting gate, we learned from a couple spectators that we were about to watch the start of the Powell3 Triathlon Challenge. Just then, the organizers welcomed everyone and went over the rules - swim, bike, run. There are two courses. The short course is the Sprint. The longer course is an olympic qualifying length.  Men and women participate separately. Folks are further divided by their qualifying times. The announcer asked everyone to proceed down the boat ramp for the start of the swim. The water was so far away, it seemed like half a marathon just to get down to the water.

The swim is a triangle swim of 750 meters for the Sprint and the Olympic does this twice for 1500 meters. Participants have to run up the boat ramp (around 400 yards) and then ride a 12 Mile Loop around Glen Canyon National Park (twice for the Olympic at 24 Miles). The run course is an out and back run up the East side road. Sprint will turn around at 1.55 Miles for a return trip of 3.1 Miles and Olympic will turn around at 3.1 Miles with the return trip at 6.2 Miles. The Olympic men are the first group in the water.

The water level of Lake Powell is very low due to the recent drought in the West. Not sure if this is cheating or not, but most of the participants ran a few hundred feet before starting to swim!

The Olympic men have finished their first lap and it is on to lap two. The women participating in the Olympic category begin to suit up and get ready for their start.

Having participated in a 10 mile race, we know a little bit about the training it takes to get oneself ready to compete. We would have liked to stay longer and cheered on the participants, but we had reservations for a guided hike at 10:40 and we still hadn't had breakfast yet. So, we began the 400 yard slog back up the boat ramp.

We felt lucky to be in the right place at the right time to witness this event. We came away amazed at the diversity of the participants. They came from far and wide and all walks of life. Because this was both a Sprint and Olympic event, we saw all types of competitors - hard core road warriors who have been doing triathlons for years, weekend warriors who came out to test their mettle, young mommies whose husbands and kids cheered from the sidelines.  Our musing was interrupted just before reaching the top, as the first of the Olympic men, who had finished his swim and was returning to his bicycle, ran up behind us. We stopped to cheer him on.

After a quick towel off, the swimmers jumped on their bikes. Some already had their shoes attached to their pedals. Every second counts!

By the time we returned from our tour around 12:30 pm, the event was over. The highway crew was collecting all the orange cones that had been set up to protect the cyclists and runners on the roads. We were curious to learn who won the event, so we went to Runnercard.com for the race results. This was probably one of our more interesting coffee walks.