Triathlon registrants nearly 500 for Saturday’s event

by Dan McClelland

The number of athletes registered for one of the events in Saturday’s Tinman Triathlon is up, Event Director Wendy Peroza reports this week.

Registrant numbers are approaching 500, which is higher than last year’s field, the long time event organizer told the Free Press yesterday.

The full event of a 1.3 mile swim, a 56-mile bike and a half-marathon run around this community is set to begin when the entrants hit the water of Raquette Pond at the municipal park at 8a.m. The main difference in this year’s three-part race is the bike course, which has been changed to Long Lake and back. The traditional bike run from Tupper Lake to the state parking area beyond Cranberry and back was changed this year due to the major construction project this summer on Route 3 just past the hamlet of Piercefield.

The bicyclists will be turning around in Long Lake at the Kickerville Road intersection.

The Free Press joins many in the community in welcoming all the triathlon contingent to our community for a safe and fulfilling competition.

The triathletes and their families are encouraged to stop at our businesses and tourism venues to round out their weekend with us!

The Tinman is the community’s oldest sporting event, founded in the early 1980s by the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce. It was the promotional group’s largest event of the year for many years.

Hundreds and hundreds of people here have volunteered to staff aid stations and tackle other volunteer chores at Tinman events over the years.

Since the termination of the chamber some years ago, the town and its recreation department now sponsors it, with assistance from ROOST (Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism).