SKOWHEGAN — Police escorts, emergency medical personnel and volunteers will be stationed along the course of a triathlon route starting Sunday morning at Lake George Regional Park in Canaan and Skowhegan.
The event also will mean a traffic detour on U.S. Route 2.
The Lake George/Somerset Sports & Fitness Sprint Triathlon starts at 9 a.m. Sunday with a 500-meter swim from the Canaan side of Lake George. Participants will swim around an island where spectators and fans will be able to see the entire swim, according to park Director Jeff McCabe. The swim will be followed by a 15-mile bicycle ride from the Skowhegan side of the lake.
McCabe said with an expected 200 triathlon participants, U.S. Route 2 will be closed to traffic from about 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Sunday.
Traffic heading east, toward Canaan, will be detoured onto Eaton Mountain Road. Traffic headed west, toward Skowhegan, will be detoured to Route 23 and to U.S. Route 201 north.
“The bike ride is a 15-mile flat country road with a few rolling hills and very wide breakdown lanes to travel in to Somerset Sports and Fitness in Skowhegan,” McCabe said.
From there the triathlon continues with a 3.5-mile run from the fitness center, off U.S. Route 201, and back.
“The run travels down past New Balance and along the beautiful river walk in Skowhegan, ending with a challenging couple of hills to finish,” McCabe said. “The race is being officially timed and will have police escorts, EMS services and plenty of volunteers all along the route.”
Proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Lake George Regional Park with money for capital improvement projects, including erosion control and road repairs. The triathlon is open to athletes 15 and older and can be done individually or as a team.
“Somerset Sports and Fitness is the finish line and probably the best place to see the race,” McCabe said. “You’ll actually be able to see the bicycle portion finish and be able to see the running portion start, and then you’ll be at the finish line for the end of the race.”
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.