The Race Is Off

Hundreds of athletes who have been training on bikes, on running trails and in swimming pools for the city's annual triathlon this month can take a breather. Officials have called off the event.

The problem, city spokesman Matt Ross says, is that major maintenance work over the course of the summer at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center forced reconsideration of the race route to utilize the pool at the Salvador Perez Pool and Fitness Center instead. In the end, that plan just didn’t pan out, because none of the various course alignments considered by organizers was deemed sufficiently safe. 

“After months of working without luck to find a course alignment for the run and bike portions of the race that would guarantee the highest level of safety for participants and the public, the city has decided to cancel this year’s edition of the triathlon,” reads the official announcement.  

Parks and Recreation Department Director Rob Carter says his staff will immediately begin working on next year’s event, scheduled to return to the Chavez Center. 

“We’re certainly disappointed, but public safety is our first concern, and when you can’t guarantee that it makes the decision to cancel the only one that makes sense,”  Carter says in the press release. 

Geno Zamora, who with his law partner Tony Ortiz has already completed five triathlons this year, says the writing seemed to be on the wall because just weeks before the planned event, none of the websites that usually carry registration information had news about it.

“I have participated in the triathlon three out of the last four years, and I was planning on being in this year’s triathalon. Unfortunately, the construction schedule at the Chavez Center interrupted a really successful and fun event," Zamora says. "I applaud the Herculean effort of the staff, but I’m not surprised. It’s just to difficult to relocate for just one year."

Santa Fe Reporter