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Endurance events fill the weekend

For multisport endurance athletes, this weekend is a highlight on the calendar.

From the Great Floridian Triathlon in Clermont, to the World Duathlon Championships in Alpharetta, Ga., to the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, athletes will test their limits.

And area competitors will be part of each event.

Clermont's Great Floridian Triathlon is dubbed the "people's Ironman," with no pro prize purse and with no special qualifying procedures.

The event's creator, Fred Sommer, travels the globe to spread the word about the Great Floridian, and he says he was thrilled this year to receive race registrations from the 1988 Ironman winner, New Zealand's Scott Molina, and other champions from Europe and Central and South America.

Just after sunrise, after the national anthem is performed at Lake Minneola, members of the St. Pete Mad Dogs Triathlon Club always take a moment to reflect on their fellow triathletes competing that day in Hawaii.

The St. Pete Mad Dogs (with 2,000 members) get involved in the Great Floridian Triathlon each year. Last season, Pinellas Park triathlete York Somerville built a wooden dog house with a Halloween motif, which the Ironman competitors ran through, grabbing water, sports drinks, cookies and chicken soup on their way to the finish line.

Last year's Great Floridian Triathlon was won by Joe Bonness, 46, of Naples in 9 hours, 28 minutes, 49 seconds. The top woman was Bonness' training partner, Sara Weaver, 37, of Naples in 10:34:56.

The top Tampa Bay area finisher was Mike Hofstetter, 36, of Largo, 10th overall in 10:32:00; and the top woman was the third-place finisher, Lisa Purul, 28, of Safety Harbor in 11:20:55.

This year, the Great Floridian added a half-Ironman (swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 and run 13.1).

More than 100,000 triathletes compete in qualifying events worldwide for spots in Hawaii.

Professionals compete for equal prize lists, and because Ironman is known as the "Super Bowl of Endurance Sports," this amounts to at least $325,000, not including men's and women's swim/bike/run primes (fastest at each discipline) of $1,000 each.

Last year's Ironman winner was American Tim DeBoom, 30, in 8:31:18. The women's winner was Natascha Badmann, 39, of Switzerland in 9:28:37.

The duathlon features Tampa's Don Ardell, a former world champion.

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