After two years of dormancy, the city’s only swim-bike-run event — now called the Big Apple Triathlon — will make a comeback Saturday with some 1,300 endurance enthusiasts expected to jump in (to the Hudson, that is).
asserted
that → swim → Hudson
If all goes to plan, athletes taking on the longest distance will stroke nearly a mile up the shoreline before riding 25 miles along the West Side Highway and striding 6.2 miles into and around Central Park.
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athletes → go → Park
The race, formerly known as the New York City Triathlon, has been around since 2001.
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race → know → 2001
But its recent history is notoriously choppy, soured by scheduling snafus and weather woes.
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history → sour → snafus
“I believe every edition since 2017, we either had to shorten the run, shorten the bike or cancel the swim,” former race director Alex De Gracia of Life Time told the Post.
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Gracia → believe → Post
(His organization sold the race in 2023.)
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organization → sell → 2023
In 2019, for example, the then-summer spectacle was nixed due to extreme heat.
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spectacle → nix → heat
In 2021 and 2023, water quality concerns shuttered the swim and rerouted athletes to a run-bike-run.
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concerns → shutter → run
In 2022, a forecast in the 90s slashed the bike and run distances by at least half.
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forecast → slash → half
And, before 2024’s race even opened to registrants, organizers threw in the towel.
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organizers → open → towel
While they’d tried to skirt scorching temps by moving the production to the fall, they and the city couldn’t land on a viable date.
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they → try → date
Local triathletes moved on.
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triathletes → move → ?
But now, under the direction of yet another organizer, Alpha Win, and with an early fall date, the starting gun will sound again.
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gun → sound → date
And competitors — about half of whom are coming from outside the city and most of whom paid between $350 and $625 for the honor — hope this time’s the charm.
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time → come → honor
“I was super excited when I heard about it; I loved the New York City Triathlon,” said Matt Stern, a 32-year-old attorney in Manhattan who raced in 2023 and calls the course “epic.”
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who → excite → course
“I think it’s amazing to be able to swim, bike and run in the city.
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it → think → city
You train here every day, so to actually be able to race here is awesome.”
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be → train → ?
A triathlon is any race featuring a swim, bike and run, usually in that order so athletes enter the water fresh, not fatigued.
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athletes → feature → water
The shortest such feats, or “sprints,” often net out at 16 miles.
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feats → net → miles
The best-known long-course tri — an Ironman — covers 140.6 miles, including, famously, a marathon.
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tri → know → marathon
But this year’s production offers “a distance for everyone” — Alpha Win’s motto — including a sprint, relay, aquabike (swim-bike) and duathlon (run-bike-run).
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production → offer → sprint
“People associate the name ‘triathlon’ with Ironman, and they think, ‘Oh, that’s some crazy goal,’” Stern said.
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Stern → associate → Ironman
“But I think triathlon is really accessible for a lot of people.”
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triathlon → think → people
He got hooked three years ago after joining his cousin for a sprint in Montauk.
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He → hook → Montauk
Back then, he could barely swim.
uncertain
he → swim → ?
Now, he’s an Ironman finisher and member of the Empire Tri Club.
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he → ’ → Club
“It’s fun to be able to push yourself, see what you can do, how far you can take yourself, how fast you can go,” Stern said.
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Stern → ’ → yourself
“And the community around you is what makes it really special.”
The sport attracts “not just your elite, very, very fit-looking people; it’s certainly a diversified group,” added Tommy Struzzieri, the CEO and race director of Alpha Win, which is based in Saugerties, New York, and has produced over 200 races since 2010.
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Struzzieri → make → 2010
“That’s why I love standing at the finish line.
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I → ’ → line
But to get there in Gotham, a lot has to go right.
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lot → get → Gotham
“Racing in the northeast has a very limited window,” said Joel Volterra, a triathlon coach with TriLife NYC and one of this year’s competitors.
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Volterra → race → competitors
In spring, the water’s too cold.
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water → ’ → spring
In fall, the unlikely but real threat of hurricanes looms.
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threat → loom → hurricanes
Just try finding a weekend day during that window that doesn’t have the local government tied up with a protest, parade, presidential visit or a playoff game.
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government → try → protest
Plus, unlike races pretty much anywhere else — where safe cycling doesn’t mean siphoning off a crosstown artery in Manhattan’s most populous ZIP code and where securing a swim doesn’t dictate a call to the Coast Guard — a multisport operation in the Big Apple requires the blessing of city, state and federal authorities.
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operation → mean → authorities
“You’ve got DOT, you’ve got Parks, you’ve got police, you’ve got emergency services … you’ve got Riverside Park and Central Park, you’ve got all the community boards that are affected,” Volterra said.
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Volterra → get → boards
“So it’s any one of those things or a bad weather event [that] can derail it.
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that → ’ → it
There’s something in the water — or is there?
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there → ’ → water
But before we talk trash, let’s talk tides.
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’s → talk → tides
“When people think of a river, they think of a river moving in one direction.
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they → think → direction
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
