JP's First Triathlon

Belatedly, here are some pictures and highlights from JP's first triathlon in Rocky Point at the end of April.  We did the four hour drive from Tucson to Rocky Point on Friday afternoon, passing through the scenic border town of Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico/Lukeville, AZ:

The race was on Saturday morning, based out of a condo complex down the road from where we stayed with JP's Mom and Step-Dad, Mary and Tom, who were bravely also competing in the triathlon!  I was the support person, holding stuff, carrying shoes, and being the official photographer of course.

Here are the competitors prior to heading out to the track:

And here they are at the (very windy) transition area.  I had never been to a triathlon before, so it was interesting to see how everyone set up their stuff to transition from swimming to biking and then from biking to running:

The swim was in the ocean, and JP and Mary did the "sprint", which was 500 meters, while Tom did the "Olympic" distance of 1000.  It looked like a madhouse on the beach, but they had staggered starts and the different groups and age groups sorted by swim cap color, which seemed to work out pretty well:

I am pretty sure this next picture is the start of JP's group since the gray swim cap people seem to be heading into the water:

They basically swam three sides of a rectangle and then emerged to run up the beach to the transition area and grab their bikes:

I had found a comfortable spot in the shade on the balcony of the condo complex, so I stayed put while JP and the other competitors grabbed their bikes and headed out for 16 miles of windy, sandy riding. They then returned their bikes and finished by running a 5 k, ending on the beach.

Here's JP rounding the turn onto the beach (in the gray shirt just above the white boat):

Here's JP in his gray shirt just before crossing the finish line (his head is right below the umbrella on the left side of the finish line marker):

JP was happy with his time and is already scheming for his next triathlon in the fall. Mary and Tom were also pleased with how they did and I was just happy to enjoy a weekend on the beach!