2020 Asheville Triathlon - swim, bike, run
iDaph Events is excited to once again bring back this popular fast & fun sprint triathlon!
The race consists of a 400 meter swim, a 12.5 mile bike course and a 5K run course. These distances make this sprint triathlon great for every level of triathlete, from novice to elites. Novice + Beginner tri-athletes love this race! Elite athletes – get ready for a PR!
This race is fast and is a huge hit among local elites.
NEW FOR 2020: NEW LOCATION!
This year the Asheville Triathlon will take place in Patton Park, Hendersonville, NC! DIRECTIONS TO PATTON PARK
Patton Park is run by the YMCA of Western North Carolina and owned by the City of Asheville. The park consists of 400m pool swim, 12.5 mile bike and 5k run! The bike and run will use parts of the beautiful Oklawaha Greenway.
Swim
The 400 meter swim takes place in Patton Pool, an Olympic sized 50 meter lap pool with 8 lanes. We will space the swimmers in time trial starts. THIS IS NOT LIKE PAST EVENTS! EACH SWIMMER MAY NEED TO START A MINUTE AFTER THE SWIMMER IN FRONT OF THEM TO ALLOW ENOUGH DISTANCE. Participants will have a time trial start with plenty of time between each swimmer and will be organized in wave starts according to their estimated 100 yard swim time. Swimmers will flow in one direction in the lane.
Bike
The 12.5 mile bike course rolls through the quiet and beautiful Oklahawa Greenway in the City of Hendersonville, exits the Greenway and flows along a ‘rolling’ course through Henderson County countryside roads. Cyclists will return to the park by way of the Greenway and back to the transition zone.
Run
The 5k run is FAST and for the most part-flat, except for one little dipper hill that you will crest before entering back to the park. The entire 5k run is on the quiet, shaded and beautiful Oklahawa Greenway in the City of Hendersonville. The section of the greenway used for this event will run towards Jackson Park. There will only be a short section where the bike/run overlap. The route is an out-and-back, lollipop course, with one ‘self-service’ water station at the halfway point. We do encourage you to bring your own fuel, nutrition and refreshments for this event.
We can’t wait to cheer you on at the Asheville Triathlon on Sunday, July 19th at Patton Park in Hendersonville, NC. Thank you for supporting our event and our small business.
We have created an Interactive Digital Event Guide to help inform our participants what to expect on race day.
We have also created a Podcast for the event so you can listen while you drive to work or packet pickup and get all the important details. Please read through the Event Guide and/or listen to the Asheville Triathlon Podcast so you will be prepared for Sunday!
A few things to note:
• Face coverings MUST BE WORN before the event and after finishing. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule.
• Face coverings do not need to be worn while racing.
• Your transition area is at your personal vehicle. Please do not set up your transition items in an empty parking spot beside your car. Your items should be close to the front, sides, back or on the hood/trunk of your car. You can leave your bike on your bike race too!
• Once you set up your transition area space please either go warm-up on the Hwy 25 sidewalk (not on the run/bike course!) or stay in car until 10 min before your wave start.
• After setting up your transition space and exiting the transition area we ask that you continue to wear a facial covering any time you might be in contact with another athlete, staff member or volunteer.
• Get your temperature checked before entering the pool for your race.
• There will be no body marking station at this event. We do ask that you body mark yourself by applying your race number on both arms/biceps with permanent marker.
• There is access to restrooms outside the pool building and inside the pool area.
• THERE WILL BE NO PRE-RACE MEETING. Please look for updates on our Facebook Page.
The Swim List will be posted on Friday, July 17th after registration has closed. Please check this blog for the list and updates.
We wish everyone an awesome triathlon experience! We will have RESULTS posted on the iDaph Website on Sunday after the event!
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“It helps me have a reason to get outside and breathe fresh air, and not be cooped up all the time. With reduced hours, moving around and being active is what I needed. It really did help me a lot.” ~ Crystal Shirk
Now that pools are reopening, Crystal Shirk is back in the water at 6am to get in her lap time. She is training for her first triathlon this summer, the Asheville Triathlon, a sprint tri being put on in Hendersonville July 19th.
“I love trying something new,” says Crystal. “I love the challenge and the excitement of knowing you have an event coming up.”
The triathlon is good timing for Crystal. When COVID-19 hit, her job as a certified athletic trainer at a local high school changed dramatically. Her hours were reduced, and she and her fellow peers were asked to screen patients at Urgent Care for coronavirus symptoms, putting them directly on the front line of the pandemic.
To help alleviate stress and stay motivated, Crystal, revved up her running and cycling.
“It helps me have a reason to get outside and breathe fresh air, and not be cooped up all the time,” Crystal says. “With reduced hours, moving around and being active is what I needed. It really did help me a lot.”
Crystal is very goal-oriented, so when sport events were cancelled in March, it became more difficult to stay motivated and stick to a training plan. The Asheville Triathlon offers her an event to look forward to and work towards.
“I need to have a purpose,” she says.
During COVID-19, Crystal also focused more on strength training and yoga. She found herself getting stronger, and now she feels more confident that she can complete a triathlon.
“I don’t want to go out and win it, I just want to do the best for me. I want to prove to myself that I can do it,” she says.
Crystal says she understands numbers may be limited now at sport events, and protocols need to be put in place to keep everyone safe and adhere to current guidelines. As an athletic trainer, she is constantly working on bringing back events at the high school level.
“That’s our daily talk right now,” she adds.
When asked if she was nervous about returning to sport events, Crystal said she feels comfortable with it and is not afraid to do events again.
“Working in the healthcare industry…this doesn’t bother me,” she says. “I feel like in running events, being outdoors, I don’t worry about (COVID-19) as much.
“There’s going to be comfort levels. There’s going to be fears. Things have to return at some point. A select number of events here and there I think is a good idea.”
The Asheville Triathlon course includes a 400 meter swim, a 12.5 mile bike course and a 5K run course. These distances make this sprint triathlon a good fit for every level of triathlete, and it’s a huge hit among locals who want to go out and try their best at a new sport.
“I think I’ll have fun doing it, and enjoy it,” Crystal adds.
Crystal is most afraid of swimming, she admits. But she knows she can swim at least 400 meters, which is the distance of the swim in the Asheville Triathlon. It’s mostly the transition she needs to practice at this point.
And no, she does not have a tri suit.
“I’ll probably wear a bathing suit with shorts,” she adds, laughing. “I don’t have an official suit.”
The Asheville Triathlon takes place on Sunday, July 19th, and changes have been put in place to address COVID-19. The location has been changed to Patton Park in Hendersonville, NC to ensure athletes are able to spread out and stay safely far enough apart from one another. The participant number has been limited, packet-pickup will be a drive-through option, and extra sanitizing precautions will be implemented. There is also a fun virtual option available where participants can swim, bike and run on their own time and still receive a shirt and medal.
READ MORE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING AT THE ASHEVILLE TRIATHLON TO ENSURE A SAFE EVENT
Crystal lives in Black Mountain, NC with her two children and her husband, Conrad, who is also doing the Asheville Triathlon. Crystal is also an Asheville Marathon and Half Ambassador. We look forward to cheering on Crystal and Conrad in July!
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Daph Events is proud to announce that the registration is back open for the Asheville Triathlon! We have also added a new option to the Asheville Triathlon experience, a Virtual & Self-Serve AVL Triathlon event experience!
“Here at iDaph Events, safety is our top priority,” says Race Director Daphne Kirkwood. “We want to ensure that our participants, staff and volunteers stay safe and healthy, and we are following all of the necessary precautions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.” Over the past few months iDaph Events has put together event safety plans for our event to move forward in a new format to ensure social distancing measures that are set forth by the CDC are adhered to. “We will aim to have a ‘contactless’ event to provide a safe event for all.”
This annual popular sprint triathlon is the only local triathlon, and this year it has been moved to a new location to allow for a longer event duration to ensure a safe and social-distanced environment.
“Mass start and ‘large’ events are a challenge right now with event gathering restrictions. There is limited ability to provide social distancing for participants standing around at a start line waiting for an event to begin,” says Kirkwood. “Because the Asheville Triathlon is in a racing format where individuals have a time-trial start, by themselves, one-at-a-time it was the perfect event to return to the community and add enhanced safety and social distancing measures.”
Due to the wave starts and extended time gaps between when participants start their swim the participants will stay spread out throughout the duration of the rest of the event including the bike and run.
The Asheville Triathlon will consist of a 400 meter swim, a 12.5 mile bike ride and a 5K run course. These distances make this sprint triathlon great for every level of triathlete, from novice to elites. The Asheville Triathlon will take place in Patton Park, Hendersonville, NC! Patton Park is run by the YMCA of Western North Carolina and owned by the City of Asheville. The bike and run will use parts of the beautiful Oklawaha Greenway.
Swim
The 400 meter swim takes place in Patton Pool, an Olympic sized 50 meter lap pool with 8 lanes. We will space the swimmers in time trial starts. Participants will have a time trial start with plenty of time between each swimmer and will be organized in wave starts according to their estimated 100 yard swim time. Swimmers will flow in one direction in the lane.
Bike
The 12.5 bike course rolls through the quiet and beautiful Oklahawa Greenway in the City of Hendersonville, exits the Greenway and flows along a ‘rolling’ course through Henderson County countryside roads. Cyclists will return to the park by way of the Greenway and back to the transition zone.
Run
The 5k run is FAST and for the most part-flat, except for one little dipper hill that you will crest before entering back to the park. The entire 5k run is on the quiet, shaded and beautiful Oklahawa Greenway in the City of Hendersonville. The section of the greenway used for this event will run towards Jackson Park. There will only be a short section where the bike/run overlap. The route is an out-and-back, lollipop course, with one ‘self-service’ water station at the halfway point. We do encourage you to bring your own fuel, nutrition and refreshments for this event.
To adhere to the NC guidelines, iDaph Events will be putting the following rules in place:
Want to do a triathlon on your own time? Participants who choose the virtual option can swim one day, run on another day and bike a totally different day or do them all at one time like you would at a triathlon event! Virtual participants will have access to the course information for the event so they can have a ‘self-serve’ event experience on the same courses as the in person participants. Or they can come up with their own courses anywhere that they live!
Virtual participants get to challenge themselves by participating and having a goal to work towards this summer. This is a super fun way to try a triathlon on your own time, without worrying about the transition. Virtual participants can participate anytime starting June 19th thru August 31st. More details at https://raceroster.com/events/2020/32193/asheville-triathlon.
Back for 2020: Have a towel you can donate? iDaph Events is collecting new or gently used towels for the Western Carolina Rescue Ministries. Towels will be collected at packet pick-up and race day. Please help us collect towels for this wonderful local organization!
Please look for updates on our Facebook Events page.
Congratulations for completing the Mills River Time Trial Woohooo you did it! Virtual high five! We are excited to announce that the results are in for the Mills River Time Trial Series! Thank you for participating in the series! Although we are mostly riding solo...
The 2nd Annual Light Up the Night 5K looks quite different from last year's 5K. Due to COVID-19 and the guidelines we are putting in place in order to adhere to the current NC guidelines AND encourage social distancing, PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW THE RULES AND CHANGES TO...
The Asheville Off Road Series at Biltmore Estate is a unique, challenging event that has grown into a local and regional favorite over the years. Our 2019 event was our biggest event to date, and we were anticipating an even bigger number in 2020. We were looking...
