Tinman's returning: Village approves use of municipal park for return of Tinman; big field expected when event goes live in June

by Dan McClelland

The village board last month gave the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce permission to use the municipal park as a staging area for the Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon on the final weekend of June.

The chamber, which has sponsored the three-leg athletic competition since the early 1980s, has had to stage it virtually the past two years, what with the pandemic.

This year it will return live.

The village board granted the chamber use of the park during the week of June 20 to 27 to set up the Tinman which will go off that Saturday.

The chamber has again engaged Wendy Peroza as race director this year and she said the organizers and the many volunteers here are excited by the prospects of the return of the major summer event.

“We're doing it for real this year...at least that's the plan, Wendy announced this week.

When the chamber leaders made the decision to host it virtually in 2020 many of the athletes planning to come that year had already registered for the live event. Their registration fees were held to use when the event returned. Mrs. Peroza said this week most of those people plan of attending the 2022 event.

Wendy succeeded her father-in-law Maynard Peroza as race director in 2016. She was assistant director of the 2015 Tinman. Ted Merrihew ran the event for many years before Mr. Peroza, who was race director for a number of years.

The participation this year “is looking big right now.” She said the last time the Tinman was done live in June, 2019, there were just under 700 registrants, and that was up considerably from the year before-2018- when 557 triathletes challenged the local course.

Right now, she said, registration is over 500 with many months until the event.

Attracting 800 or 900 participants “is certainly possible this year,” she confided.