Wildflower Triathlon

The Wildflower Triathlon is a triathlon (swim-bike-run race) held at Lake San Antonio in Central California since 1983, the first winner being legendary Dean "The Machine" Harper. It is held the first weekend in May each year.

The original course was expanded to the standardized half-Ironman distance (1.2 mi / 56 mi / 13.1 mi) in the late 1980s, and is often referred to as simply the "long course". Two more races have subsequently been added to the event: an Olympic-distance (1.5 km / 40 km / 10 km) race and a short or "sprint" mountain-bike triathlon (0.25 mi / 10 mi / 2 mi).

Known for a particularly hilly and gruelling course, it is one of the largest triathlon events in the world, with 7,500 athletes and 30,000 spectators attending each year. Traditionally it is associated with a Wildflower festival, though in recent years the festival has been eclipsed by the increasingly large athletic event.

Course record

The current course records are held by T. Bozzone and S. McGlone. Both course records were set in 2006. Bozzone completed the half-Ironman distance in 3 hours, 53 minutes and 43 seconds, beating the previous record by 6 minutes, while McGlone posted a time of 4 hours, 31 minutes and 8 seconds, improving the 1992 record of 4 hours, 32 minutes and 4 seconds.

Corporate sponsorship

Wildflower, operated and trademarked by Tricalifornia Events, Inc., is currently sponsored by
Avia and is known as the "Avia Wildflower Triathlons".

External links

* [http://www.tricalifornia.com/ Tricalifornia Events, Inc.]
* [http://www.riverplaceproductions.com/wildflower_about.html Wildflower: The Documentary Film]
* [http://magthree.com/Thoughts/CourseRev_Wildflower_Long_course.html A detailed description of the course]