OLD ORCHARD BEACH- Sunday, Aug. 26, will not be your typical summer day in Old Orchard Beach.

The town that day will host a triathlon by Revolution3 Triathlon, a national group that organizes professional events. A $25,000 purse, including $4,500 for the winner, will be up for grabs, ensuring that top athletes from all over the country who compete on the professional triathlon circuit will be in town to swim, bike and run their way around Old Orchard and surrounding communities.

“It’s a really big deal for us,” said Will Thomas, the founder of Tri-Maine, which runs several triathlons throughout the state. “This is a big national brand and they attract folks from all over the country to come to their races.

“It’s going to be a really exciting spectacle. The production level is amazing – they bring in Jumbotrons and big production vehicles. It’s really a world class set up.”

The idea to bring the event to Old Orchard Beach sprung primarily from the minds of two local triathletes – Thomas and Trish Driscoll Carruthers.

Two years ago, after he’d helped coordinate some Rev3 events in other parts of the country, Thomas decided he wanted to bring one to northern New England. That’s when he received a call from Carruthers, who reached out to Thomas to say that Old Orchard would be a perfect location for a triathlon, both for the event itself and the local economy.

“I knew that (Rev3) were looking to bring an event to northern New England, which they saw as an untapped market, and I agreed with them,” said Thomas, who will serve as the race’s director. “So I did a bunch of venue scouting and looking all over New England to see what would work, and eventually I came to the conclusion that Maine was the best option and Old Orchard Beach had all the things they were looking for lots of housing, lots of things for families to do, beautiful venue, supportive town.

“I was just really excited because I’m a resident of Maine, so it’s great to be able to bring them to this part of the country.”

From there, Thomas and Rev3 brought the idea to town councilors, who were enthusiastic about the economic opportunities a high-profile sporting event could bring to the seaside tourist town as the summer wound down.

In addition to bringing in thousands for the triathlon, Rev3 is paying the town for parking venues, police support, and other logistical specifics, an economic model that was a win for taxpayers, the town and the businesses.

“We were delighted when they approached the town for the first time and we hope that this is the beginning of man, many years of participation,” said Old Orchard Beach Assistant Town Manager Louise Reid. “The business owners that have spoken to me are as delighted as the town is about having this come.

“I think it’s going to bring great exposure to the town near the end of the summer months and we’re delighted to have them. We’re all pulling together to make sure it’s 100 percent successful.”

When Thomas, Carruthers and representatives from Rev3 first sat down to discuss the logistics and numbers for the event, they figured they would be satisfied with 600 competitors, while 800 would be considered a resounding success.

With a week and a half to go before race day, more than 1,100 competitors have already signed up, nearing the races’ cap of 1,200.

“The numbers for a first-race are staggering,” Carruthers said. “I think we can host a really nice size race, and it’s an awesome destination for triathletes.”

While the list of competitors includes many professionals, it will also include plenty of amateurs. The large array of competitors sets the Rev3 triathlons apart, Thomas said.

“One of the things Revolution3 does really well is they promote it to the race circuit and put up big prizes so people who do this for a living come participate,” he said. “There’s going to be folks who are doing this for the first time and there are going to be folks who are professionals who are traveling from other countries for the big prize purse.

“It’s a great experience for the amateurs because they will get to race alongside these pros.”

The 1,100 or so competitors will be contending in two different races happening concurrently: the 32-mile Olympic Rev, which includes a 0.9-mile swim, a 24.8-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run; and the 70.3-mile Half Rev, comprising a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run.

The swim portion will kickoff the race at around 6:30 a.m. and start on the shore of Old Orchard Beach near Atlantic Avenue and end at the beach’s pier, where the athletes will transition to bikes. The bike course will take the athletes out into the countryside, winding through Old Orchard, Saco, Dayton, Lyman, Waterboro, Hollis and Scarborough for the Half Rev and Old Orchard, Saco and Scarborough for the Olympic Rev.

The last-leg running portion will then take them through Scarborough Marsh and over a portion of the Eastern Trail before winding back into Old Orchard, where the athletes will cross the finish line in downtown on 1st Street.

Carruthers said she thought the course would be one that the triathletes would be raving about.

“In Saco Bay the water is so beautiful and so clear and so clean and it’s really a stunning swim,” she said. “The bike is going to be really fast – the roads are in great condition, it’s really scenic, and it’s just going to have a lot of energy along the entire way. And the run is spectacular because it’s going to be on the Eastern Trail.

“This is going to get known as an amazing race course, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

Old Orchard Beach has other factors as a venue that will make it a stand out triathlon. Typically, due the logistical problems of organizing an event in an urban area, triathlons are held in rural settings so that triathletes have to wake up at the crack of dawn and drive to the location.

Old Orchard Beach will be much more user friendly for both the triathletes and friends and family here to support them, Carruthers said.

“Triathlons start incredibly early in the morning, so you really have to have races launch early so you can deal with traffic and other things as people’s days get going in the communities the races go through,” she said. You end up having to get up at 4 a.m. and drive for 45 minutes just to get to the start, and you want to be there an hour before, so you’re in the dark waiting.

“Here people are going to be able to get up and walk to the start, and that’s such a treat in triathlons to have that. I think the athletes are going to have an amazing time.”

In part due to these advantages and the ideal venue, Thomas, Reid and Carruthers all said they believe the triathlon would become a yearly tradition, especially as Rev3 has the goal to have events in the same place every year.

“It’s just too complicated to completely redo the logistics from place to place,” Carruthers said. “And then the races get reputations and people want to come to them.”

But the fact the initial event is happening in her home community is enough to excite Carruthers, who said this was exactly what she was envisioning when she made that first call to Thomas.

“I had a strong conviction that there was a successful economic model that could be embraced by everyone in our community, and I had believed it would be through sport that it could be introduced,” she said. I believe Rev3 and Tri-Maine are bringing that vision to life.

“Everything I could have dreamed about for this race has happened.”

Copy the Story Link