As summer begins so does the urge for local athletes to get outside and train for triathlons. The Lake Nighthorse Triathlons are taking place for the fourth year on Sept. 7.
This year’s race will be the second race sanctioned by USA Triathlon. This means athletes can qualify for triathlon nationals based on where they finish overall and in their age group, according to race director Dave Rakita. He knows of at least one athlete who is going to nationals from Durango who qualified at Lake Nighthorse last year.
Nationals then allows athletes to qualify for the World Championships.
“We're trying to give a stepping stone to local athletes to maybe follow that path as well as introduce people to the sport,” Rakita said.
The sprint triathlon is the shortest event offered on Sept. 7. It involves a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike ride and a 5 km run.
Rakita said the sprint race takes a good athlete just over an hour and the Olympic-level triathlon athletes can do it under an hour.
Athletes will start with a swim in a triangular direction that starts and finishes at the swim beach, paddle launch and rental area.
Then athletes will hop on their bikes and ride on County Road 210 and then turn left County Road 141 before turning around as County Road 141 meets County Road 211.
The running course starts at the swim beach, paddle launch and rental area and goes past the Lake Nighthorse Boat Dock and further South before turning around before the trail straightens out. The runners then run back the way they came and finish at the swim beach, paddle launch and rental area.
“We're really grateful to use Lake Nighthorse,” Rakita said. “It's such a beautiful lake and we get great cooperation with the city and the county.”
For the sprint triathlon, the fee is $95. There is also the option for a female sprint triathlon relay, a male sprint triathlon relay and a coed sprint triathlon relay. The fees for the male and female relays are $43.33 per member and for the coed relay, it is $43.34 per member.
The Olympic triathlon consists of a 1500 m swim, a 40 km bike ride and a 10 km run. Each event will be two laps of the sprint course.
This is a change from last year as the Olympic distance triathlon bike ride differed from the sprint ride. Rakita said they made it the same course to condense things and keep people together.
“It's a real challenging bike course with 800 feet of climbing,” Rakita said. “Since we just finished Iron Horse, it’s roughly twice the elevation of Shalona Hill. That occurs over the 20k distance with the sprint course and now it'll be twice that for the Olympic course. Anybody who's biked there knows that big hill just West of the lake on County Road 210 that's certainly part of it, but there are other little rollers in there and whatnot.”
The fee for the Olympic triathlon is $125.
After having about 80 participants in each of the first three Lake Nighthorse Triathlons, Rakita thinks the event can break 100 this year. The max is 150 athletes because there’s not much room for more people in the park than that, according to Rakita.
Rakita said most athletes participate in the sprint rather than the Olympic triathlon. But this is only the second year the Olympic distance triathlon is offered.
Local mountain biking legend Ned Overend won the sprint triathlon last year. Rakita expects Overend to be back this year. Dave Preston won the Olympic distance last year and Rakita isn’t sure if Preston will be back.
The triathlons will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 7 which is the first Saturday after Labor Day. Rakita said it’s the date they’ve always used because the park is too busy in the summer and the lake is still warm but the weather is cooler in September.
Registration is online only and can be found here.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
