Goleta Beach Park will be buzzing with activity early Sunday morning as hundreds of endurance sports athletes take part in the sixth annual Goleta Beach Triathlon.
Entrants have a choice of events to test their fitness. There’s the long-course triathlon (1-mile ocean swim, 22-mile bike, 5-mile run), sprint triathlon (440-yard swim, 11-mile bike, 2.5-mile run), duathlon (2.5-mile run, 22-mile bike, 2.5-mile run) and aquabike (1-mile swim, 22-mile bike).
The event usually draws many first-time triathlon participants because the water is usually calm and the bike and running courses are flat.
The action starts at 7 a.m., with the first of five waves (3 minutes apart) of the sprint triathlon swim. The five waves for the long course triathlon swim begin at 8 a.m., and the duathlon and aquabike go off at around 8:20 a.m.
Kyle Visin is the defending champion in the long-course triathlon with a time of 1 hour, 45 minutes, 51 seconds. Savannah Dearden won the women’s title last year in 1:57.02. There were 11 finishers under two hours last summer.
The defending sprint triathlon winners are Jon Waltman (48:56) and Laura McDonald (56:55).
Signs have been posted on the bike paths coming out of Goleta Beach Park and in Goleta neighborhoods, cautioning non-competitors to stay off the paths from 7-10 a.m.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.