Cda Triathlon Rerouted, But Still A Challenge

The Coeur d’Alene Triathlon has undergone a facelift, and race organizers hope it’s temporary.

The major change is the bike course. With the U.S. Highway 95 bridge over the Spokane River being resurfaced, race officials had to find a new route.

The change takes the race, which turns 15 years old Sunday, back to its roots. The bike leg will head east along Lake Coeur d’Alene Drive (the old freeway) and return to the eastern end of Sherman Avenue where competitors will make the transition to the final leg of the event, the run.

The length of the swim (1.5 kilometers) and run (10 kilometers) are the same, but the bike will be 11 kilometers shorter than usual (almost 7 miles shorter).

“We want to keep the distances we’ve had because that’s the standard international triathlon race,” first-year CdA Triathlon chairman Kevin Glynn said.

Glynn said triathlon officials didn’t learn until May that the traditional bike route - which crosses the Spokane River, meanders into Cougar Gulch and peaks at Mica Hill before returning to North Idaho College - wouldn’t be available.

“We had to scramble to find another course,” Glynn said. “We had five different alternatives.”

One option included swimming from the NIC beach area across the Spokane River to Blackwell Island and still using the original bike route.

Another option was moving the entire race from the traditional staging area at NIC to the Beachouse Restaurant on Lake Coeur d’Alene Drive.

“It’s just something that couldn’t be avoided,” said CdA resident Bill Travis, who will be doing the CdA event for the 13th time. “It was either change the bike or not have the race. And you couldn’t do that.”

The new route offers many more scenic views of Lake CdA and the surrounding beauty.

“I’ve done it about half a dozen times,” Glynn said. “It’s very pretty.”

Although the course is shorter, it won’t be less challenging.

Bikers will encounter a 2-mile long hill on Yellowstone Road, and as they near the top of Bonnell Road they will face an 8- to 9-percent grade for a half-mile before leveling off.

Then competitors will go down a steep stretch on Sunnyside Road before reconnecting with Lake Coeur d’Alene Drive.

“It’s a fast descent,” Travis said. “I got going about 49 mph on it the other day.”

Race officials couldn’t make the alternate route longer because of safety concerns.

“You’ve got some narrow stretches where bikers are coming both directions along with traffic,” Glynn said.

Glynn said the plan is to return to the traditional course next year.

Highway transportation officials, though, are concerned that increased traffic along U.S. Highway 95 has created safety concerns on the traditional route.

“Traffic has increased everywhere,” said John Sahlin, a CdA attorney who has been the top Kootenai County finisher many of the 13 years he’s done the race. He hopes the change is temporary.

Travis, who just turned 50, will contend for his age-group championship. But he noted that all the times this year won’t count toward event records. “It’s kind of like throwing away a year,” he said.

TRIATHLON NOTES The event begins with the swim at NIC. The first wave of runners, women, start at 7:10 a.m., followed by two waves of men and then swimmers for men and women teams. The run portion has also been changed slightly. The bike-run transition, normally at NIC, will take place at 23rd and Mullan Avenue. Runners will then head toward Tubbs Hill, entering that portion of the course from the east rather than the west. The race will finish at NIC. New champs will be crowned. Multiple male and female winners Matt Seeley of Missoula and Ann Seifert of Helena are both injured and won’t be competing. More than 700 racers are expected, with just less than 400 in the open divisions and 300 on teams. With the shorter bike course expected to chop 20 minutes off most times, the male winner should finish in just less than 2 hours and the female victor in about 2:20.