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Competing In The St. Anthony's Triathlon

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 23, 2008

TRIATHLON AT A GLANCE

WHAT: The St. Anthony's Triathlon/Meek & Mighty Triathlon

WHEN: Saturday (Meek & Mighty) and Sunday (St. Anthony's)

WHERE: Vinoy Park (St. Anthony's) and North Shore Pool (Meek & Mighty), St. Petersburg

WHO: 4,000 individuals, including professionals, along with 100 relay teams are entered in the St. Anthony's Triathlon. Another 500 youths and adults have signed up for the Meek & Mighty Triathlon.

DISTANCES: St. Anthony's Triathlon - Swim 1,500-meters (.9 miles), bike 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) and run 10k (6.2 miles). Meek and Mighty - Swim 100 yards, bike 3.6 miles, run .5 miles (ages 7-10); swim 200 yards, bike 5.4 miles, run 1 mile (ages 11 and over).

REGISTRATION: Closed

AT STAKE: Approximately 60 professional triathletes will be competing for a $60,000 prize purse, with the first-place male and female each earning $10,000. There's also an "elite amateur" competition, where the top age group athletes will race head-to-head for products and prizes.

SCHEDULE: Saturday, 7 a.m.: Athlete check-in (North Shore Pool) and opening of transition area. 8 a.m.: Start for adults and ages 15-older. 9 a.m.: Youths ages 11-14. 10 a.m.: Youths ages 7-10. 11 a.m.: Awards party, Vinoy Park. Noon-8 p.m.: Mandatory bike check-in, Vinoy Park, for St. Anthony's entrants. Sunday, 5-7 a.m.: Transition area opens and body marking. 7 a.m.: Start, Spa Beach, The Pier. 8:50 a.m.: First finisher expected. 9:30 a.m.: Post-race party. 12:30 p.m.: Awards ceremony for professionals/elites. 1 p.m.: Course closes and awards ceremony for amateurs

ONLINE: satriathlon.com

THE SWIM

With 32 separate swim wave starts, race officials do their best to safely spread out the nearly 4,000 participants, which includes more than 100 relay teams. There's also certified water-safety personnel monitoring the nearly mile-long swim course with kayaks and rescue vessels. But with a wide range of swim abilities in that mass of bodies - as well as age differences - you're going to have collisions out there in the bay waters in front of the Vinoy hotel.

Little wonder some St. Anthony's veterans call this portion of the event "full-contact swimming." If you're fast, you're probably going to get kicked in the face by swimmers you overtake. If you're slower, expect to be rear-ended.

Making the swim even more challenging are the unpredictable water conditions. Some days, it can be as smooth as glass. Other years, there's sizeable swells. Either way, there's going to be some chop from all those swimmers churning through the water. The water temperature can also vary greatly. If the water is below 78 degrees, wetsuits, which can aid a swimmer due to its buoyancy and drag-reducing properties, are allowed. Race director Philip LaHaye says the use of wetsuits likely will be decided late this week. Another hurdle for swimmers is the fact that the first - and longest - leg of the swim course is into the rising sun, making it difficult to see other swimmers and the buoy where they make the first turn.

THE BIKE

A 24.8-mile, all-urban course make things challenging to control, especially in areas of motor traffic congestion. Veterans of St. Anthony's say St. Petersburg police and race officials do a good job keeping things safe.

But like the swim leg, there's a lot of bikes and a wide variety of cycling abilities and experience. Not everyone knows the correct way to pass (on the left), or they just ignore the rule. And some don't know the precise rules of drafting, which is illegal in this race. LaHaye says a total of 16 marshals will be out on the course to enforce the rules with time penalties and disqualifications. But some will still break the rules and others claim bike congestion sometimes makes it difficult not to draft.

Those occasional congestion issues are most evident on the course's southern section near Lakewood Estates and Pinellas Point Drive, where it narrows to single-lane roads.

THE RUN

Assuming you get this far, the 6.2-mile run course to Snell Isle and back is one of the most scenic you'll find anywhere. Along the way, you'll pass waterfront parks and multi-million dollar homes. Some of the residents will offer a spray of water from their own garden hose and there's even a bit if shade on Snell Isle, where the turnaround point is located.

But if you started in one of the later waves and want to make up ground on the run, expect to do some weaving and dodging around all those bodies in front of you. And for most of the age group entrants and relay teams who started well after sunrise, the run course can be a hot one. Race officials offer plenty of aid stations, but the heat can jump on you after being out in the elements for two-plus hours. The final mile up North Shore Drive to the finish line in Vinoy Park could be the most challenging part of the race.

TRIATHLON AT A GLANCE

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