Second First Try Triathlon Coming to Linden

After years of thinking about entering a triathlon, John Strayer finally gave it a try last year in Linden.

"Well, I made it. I'm alive and in one piece," he .

Dr. Erica Peabody after competing last year and has urged people to give it a shot.

"We have a triathlon right here in town. How cool is that!?" she said.

Now it's your chance to give it a first (or second) try.

The CSCTriclub, a group of local triathletes who are dedicated to bringing new athletes into the sport of Triathlon, will host The Second Annual at 8 a.m. June 23 in Linden.

The  is a triathlon designed specifically for first timers. The distance is a super sprint (half a sprint) with a 300 yard swim, 9.1 mile bike and two-mile run. The concept of the First Try is to offer a race that gives the experience of racing in a "real" triathlon without the intimidation factor.

The swim is a 300 yard out and back, so if you can swim one and a half football fields you can cover the distance. The wave starts will allow enough people in the water with you to give you the feeling of what the triathlon swim is about, without the fear of someone swimming over your back.

The bike course is nine miles long and is mostly pancake flat with some small hills. There are only four turns and the course will be heavily marshaled. 

The two-mile run course is an "out and back" on the bike trail in Linden County Park. You will run one mile, turn around and head back to finish your first real triathlon.

“I’ve been wanting to do a triathlon since I was 17 or 18, and I’m 41 now so I had to try it,” Richard Lee said after last year's event. “I absolutely loved it; the water was fantastically warm, it was really great.”

All finishers will receive an official Triathlon Medallion at the finish line.

It will begin at 8 a.m. June 23 at Clover Beach, Byram Lake at Linden County Park, 15349 S. Linden Road in Linden.

To register for the First Try Triathlon or for more information please visit https://sites.google.com/site/firsttrytriathlon/. Event is presented by partner sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and event sponsors and the .