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ALICIA CALDWELLSt. Anthony's drops international race, boosts Sunday entries to 3,000.
ST. PETERSBURG - There will be less international publicity, and probably a lower level of competition.
But organizers of St. Anthony's Triathlon say that dropping the ITU World Cup race from its roster of events in 2004 will allow them to economize and focus on its increasingly popular amateur race.
"The customers have spoken," said Steve Meckfessel, event manager.
Those customers, typically people with day jobs who race for fun on the weekends, filled the 2,000 slots for this year's race in a record six days. Discontinuing the international-level competition will allow race organizers to increase the number of participants in the amateur race to 3,000, making it the second-largest Olympic-distance event in the country, Meckfessel said.
But enlarging the field has brought worries about overcrowding on an already congested bike course and about having to lengthen the staggered race start and leave the last wave of finishers exposed to greater heat as the day wears on.
"He's got some ambitious plans to expand the field," said Fred Sommer, president of CFT Sommer Sports, a race organizer based in Clermont. "I think it has already gotten maxed out."
Meckfessel said changing the bike route to eliminate overlap with the run course and reducing the size of start waves would alleviate overcrowding. As for heat in the late April race, he said the 50 percent increase in participants would only add a half hour to the start waves.
"We will safely be able to accommodate 3,000 individuals," Meckfessel said.
Losing the ITU race, held on Saturday before the amateur race on Sunday, means spectators likely won't see as many international athletes, riding in draft-legal races and fighting for a world ranking. The new format will not allow even the professionals to draft in the bike leg.
However, the $50,000 in prize money almost certainly will draw some of the best professionals to the event, which consists of a .9-mile swim, a 24.8-mile bike leg and a 6.2-mile run.
The change was sad news for one dedicated amateur who made a point to watch the ITU race every year when he would go down to pick up his race number for the next day's age-group competition.
"I'm sorry to see it go," said Alan Tudor, a member of the St. Pete Mad Dogs triathlon club who routinely competes in the amateur race. "It gets me motivated for Sunday."
Loss of the international competition was a concern to St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce president Russ Sloan, who wondered whether the increase in amateur participants would make up for the loss of hotel nights that area hoteliers almost certainly would experience with fewer foreign competitors.
Furthermore, loss of international television coverage would be a blow to the city, though it might be partly offset by the broadcast of open wheel auto racing during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. However, Sloan expressed support for St. Anthony's organizers.
"Whatever niche we choose, we should do it well," he said.