First-Ever Weather the Storm Triathlon Set for Saturday at The Bridge Sports Complex
By Chris Johnson on July 31, 2024
On Saturday, athletes of all ages from all over will be at The Bridge Sports Complex to compete in the first-ever Weather the Storm Triathlon.
Competitors will take part in three stages – swimming, cycling and running – with the first wave of swimmers scheduled to start at in the pool inside the Citynet Center at 7:30 a.m. The awards ceremony for the event is tentatively scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
The event itself has already weathered some storms of change since the idea for it was first proposed.
“It started out that we just wanted to do it for the kids,” said Alyson Piot, the Business Development Coordinator for The Bridge. “Then you got a couple of women banging their heads together and all of a sudden it has grown to this event where we have about 140 to 150 people registered.”
Piot, who has competed in several Half Ironman events, admits she was one of the women banging their heads to open it up to adults as well as children.
According to the triathlon’s wave sheets, there are more than 30 kids between the ages of four and 12 signed up to take part in the kids division, which is scheduled to start at noon.
However, there are also several kids participating in the regular triathlon where the age of competitors ranges from 10 to 75.
No matter the age, a triathlon gives a participating athlete the opportunity to test their endurance and challenge themselves to reaching new goals.
“A lot of times, people don’t excel at all three sports, so it forces them to challenge themselves in a differ way,” Piot said.
“We have such a beautiful campus up here and we thought it would be something to push people outside of their comfort zones and something they don’t have to travel 300 miles to try. People have been practicing on the course every night. I think everybody is excited for it.”
The course is completely inside the confines of The Bridge Sports Complex. In addition to the swimming portion inside the Citynet Center, the running will be on the high school’s cross country course and the bike course will be on the campus without nearing the main road.
Piot said there were some initial challenges in designing a cycling course because they wanted to make sure it was safe without interference to available parking.
The plan is for the Weathering the Storm Triathlon to not be a one-time event.
“One-hundred percent, we want to turn this into an annual event,” Piot said. “We will see how this one goes. I was talking to a woman who has bee training for it and she said she was excited for Saturday but really excited about seeing where she’s at and training for a full year and doing it again next year.”
Waves and start times for the Weather the Storm Triathlon can be viewed HERE
Results, including live updates will be available HERE
Editor's Note: Top photo is of Mark and Finn Chavoustie training for the cycling portion of the triathlon. Middle photo is of Gabe Romano training for the swimming portion and the bottom photo is Hedi Seamon on the running trail. Submitted photos.
