TriPATHlon Comes to Town

There are many ways to celebrate your 20th birthday: cake and ice cream, presents, premature drinking … But if you are the PATH Foundation celebrating your 20th birthday, perhaps the best way to celebrate is to sweat it out.

And so in celebration of 20 years of PATH, the foundation has linked up with the Chastain Park Conservancy and the Chastain Park Athletic Club and created Atlanta’s first USA -sanctioned intown triathlon, or the triPATHlon, as it’s aptly named.

The first triPATHlon will benefit all three organizations and takes place May 8 at Chastain Park. You may be asking yourself, where exactly will this triathlon take place, aren’t those things for swimming, biking and running? The course takes participants throughout the Chastain Park area, starting with a swim in the Chastain Park pool. Participants will zigzag through the pool for 400 yards, then bike 15 miles and finish with a 5K run on the PATH trail around the park.

“This should be a fun one to watch because the run goes around a familiar path,” said Jennifer Klein, Chastain Pak Athletic Club board member. “The bike trail goes on some of the same roads as the Olympic bike race was on. It’s scenic Buckhead; rolling hills, anybody who rides is familiar with this path.”

The race starts at 7:30 A.M. on Sunday May 8, and registration is limited to 550 participants. The entry fee is $75 for USAT members and $85 for nonmembers. There is no day-of-race registration.

The PATH Foundation chose to coordinate the triathlon because of the organization's focus on fitness.

“PATH is all about fitness and wellness,” said Bo Heiner, marketing coordinator of the event for PATH. “They are really focused on getting people out of cars and up off the couch and onto bikes and trails.”

One of the main draws for the triathlon is its location at Chastain Park. It’s one of the few in-town triathlons in the nation. The Chastain Park trail system is one of the more active trails in the city, Heiner said. It’s an urban/neighborhood trail that pulls from the neighborhood and a wide radius of people from all around town.

“It gets a lot of use because it’s scenic and easy to get in and out,” Heiner said. “It’s a very user friendly trail. All the amenities are there. They have water, and an active 5K path. It’s in a very nice neighborhood.”

The triathlon is a single-participant event, there are no opportunities for relay teams this inaugural year. The event is being run by Georgia Multisports, which handles a lot of the triathlons in Georgia.

The PATH Foundation is a nonprofit that has been around Atlanta since 1991. The foundation is responsible for the creation of 160 miles of trails throughout t Georgia.

The Chastain Park Conservancy was founded in 2003 and is dedicated to the renewal of the park’s resources. The Chastain Athletic Club is a separate nonprofit entity that has operated the Park’s pool since 2002.

Registration for the event is still open and volunteers are still needed as well. For more information visit: http://tripathlonatlanta.com.