Olympic hopes to burn in San Diego<\/b><\/br> <\/br>With its temperate climate, countless outdoor activities and rather health-conscious population, it is no wonder that San Diego is the birthplace of the triathlon. In 1974, the San Diego Track Club \u2014 spearheaded by Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan \u2014 held the first-ever swim-bike-run competition to be dubbed a “triathlon” at Fiesta Island. Just 46 competitors participated in the modest inaugural event. This year \u2014\u00a0nearly 40 years later \u2014 150 of the world\u2019s top triathletes will descend upon the Mecca of the sport for the 2012 International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Triathlon, competing to fill coveted slots on their countries\u2019 Olympic teams. The three-day multi-sport event, which will take place through Mission Beach, Mission Bay, Pacific Beach and La Jolla from May 10-12, marks the second of eight stops around the globe in the world-class series. Olympics hopefuls \u2014 including top American triathletes vying to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team \u2014 will take off on a 1.5-kilometer swim in Bonita Cove, transition to a 40-kilometer bike ride through Pacific Beach and La Jolla, and finish up with a 10-kilometer run in South Mission Beach. Up to 3,000 amateurs will also have the opportunity to compete along the same route as the Olympic trial athletes in Olympic or sprint distance races on May 12. “This is the birthplace of the sport, and for us to actually have a course that starts near Fiesta Island \u2014 the first place of the sport \u2014 is pretty magical,” said Rob Urbach, CEO of USA Triathlon, during a press announcement at the San Diego Hall of Champions. “This will be a pretty good commercial for the city of San Diego.” USA Triathlon leaders enlisted the aid of the San Diego Sports Commission to help secure San Diego as a location for the worldwide series, bringing the triathlon back to its roots in Mission Bay \u2014 but with a great deal more fanfare. “One of the things that we\u2019ve established as one of our goals with the sports commission is to try to reposition San Diego as an active participant in lifestyle sports and being a major participant in world-class sports, particularly using the beach areas \u2014 Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and La Jolla \u2014\u00a0so that we can really show off the iconic views of San Diego,” said Al Kidd, president of the San Diego Sports Commission. “It truly is an opportunity for San Diego to re-imprint itself as a major player in this kind of event.” The course highlights many of the treasures coastal communities have to offer, including a running path on the beach and bayside boardwalks, a cycling route up to Mt. Soledad, and stunning coastal views en route. “We worked through a number of options for courses. We began to work with the city and the planning groups, and ultimately, we got a course committed that we\u2019re very, very excited about,” said Kidd. Even with the excitement depicted by organizers and participants of the event, the course poses traffic concerns to some area residents and merchants, who argue that street closures in South Mission Beach will be a nightmare. “Closing down Mission [Boulevard] entirely would not allow anyone to get in or out of South Mission Beach,” said Bob Ruane, president of the Mission Beach Town Council (MBTC). “There is good concern on all sides. A lot of people would like these events to come to the beach and showcase the area, and a lot of other people don\u2019t.” After vetting concerns on both sides, MBTC representatives voted in favor of sending a letter in support of the event, although “event organizers lacked numerous specifics and all agree that the event will cause significant inconvenience,” according to the MBTC\u2019s January meeting minutes. Members of the Mission Beach Precise Planning Board (MBPPB), on the other hand, voted not to support the event at their February meeting. “Merchants, residents and board members expressed concerns about the upcoming event, the short notice given to the community, the dates selected and the traffic congestion due to road closures,” said MBPPB Chairwoman Debbie Watkins. “The event is being sold as a two-day event, but with setup and cleanup, it turns out it will impact Mission Beach 100 percent for four days.” Board members suggested other locations like Fiesta Island, but they were told that Mission Beach was the organizers\u2019 desired location, said Watkins. “It was pointed out that particular weekend was Mother\u2019s Day, and business owners were concerned about loss of business at restaurants and shops,” read MBPPB\u2019s February meeting minutes. Although the event\u2019s organizers have not yet received permits from the city, Carolyn Wormser, executive director of San Diego Special Events, said that is “fairly typical” for events of this size and scale since a large number of regulatory agencies \u2014 including the health department, fire department, police department, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Commission, San Diego Gas & Electric and the city Park and Recreation Department \u2014 must sign off on the event. “There are many moving targets,” she said. “Since [organizers] initially reached out to the community, they have made considerable changes, particularly collapsing the timing to make streets open longer than originally anticipated. We take seriously the feedback we get from the community.” A community relations coordinator has been established to field concerns and answer questions about the event that will be hitting the beach neighborhoods, said Wormser. For more information about the event or to issue a specific concern, call (619) 752-0822. Wormer said messages will be returned within 72 hours, and the line will also be maintained on the weekend of the event. For more information about the ITU World Triathlon series, visit www.wts.triathlon.org. The event will be streamed live on Universal Sports\u2019s website, www.universalsports.com and ITU World Triathlon\u2019s website, www.triathlonlive.tv.com. The elite men\u2019s and women\u2019s triathlons will also be televised on Universal Sports on May 19 and 20. Visitors can take part in the race\u2019s free expo, which will feature a number of food booths and vendors showcasing the industry\u2019s top brands and products, at Bonita Cove Park. Public viewing areas will also be available along the route and seating will be available at the finish line near Bonita Cove Park. SCHEDULE FOR THE ITU WORLD TRIATHLON<\/b> THURSDAY, May 10<\/b> \u2022 1 to 6 p.m.,\u00a0expo at Bonita Cove Park \u2022 5:30 p.m., USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Banquet at Bahia Resort FRIDAY, May 11<\/b> \u2022 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Expo at Bonita Cove Park \u2022 2 to 5 p.m., road closures along affected routes \u2022 3 p.m., elite women\u2019s race \u2022 5 p.m., women\u2019s elite awards ceremony SATURDAY, May 12<\/b> \u2022 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., road closures along affected routes \u2022 6:15 a.m., age group Olympic distance and Olympic relay \u2022 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., expo at Bonita Cove Park \u2022 8:45 a.m., age group sprint distance \u2022 11:30 a.m., awards ceremony age group for Olympic distance \u2022 12:30 p.m., awards ceremony age group for sprint distance \u2022 2:30 p.m., elite men\u2019s race \u2022 4:30 p.m., men\u2019s elite awards ceremony S<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Olympic hopes to burn in San Diego With its temperate climate, countless outdoor activities and rather health-conscious population, it is no wonder that San Diego is the birthplace of the triathlon. In 1974, the San Diego Track Club \u2014 spearheaded by Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan \u2014 held the first-ever swim-bike-run competition to be dubbed […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":259050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Beach leaders conflicted over world-class triathlon that will shut down S. Mission Boulevard","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}