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This time, triathlete can drive to race

The Palm Harbor man is used to flying worldwide for competitions, but today's fundraising event is close to home at Sand Key Park.

By ASHLEE CLARK
Published July 16, 2006

Competing in triathlons has sent Palm Harbor resident Spencer Smith across the world.

But hauling luggage to an airport and enduring long flights every time he competes can be tiring.

Today, Smith will get a reprieve.

The Morton Plant Mease Triathlon will begin at 7 a.m. at Sand Key Park. Smith, 33, is among 500 competitors who will swim, bike and run in the sold-out event, which raises money for the Morton Plant Mease Foundation.

"I'm really happy that I just have to get in a car, and, within 20 minutes, I'm at the event," Smith said.

Smith, who is originally from Hounslow, England, began competing in triathlons when he was 18. He has traveled to places including Brazil, Australia and Turkey to compete, along the way becoming a two-time Ironman champion and a three-time World Triathlon Champion.

Smith will be among a group of elite racers competing for part of $3,000 in prize money.

Smith has lived in Palm Harbor on and off for about a year and a half.

The Florida weather gives him a good place to train during the winter, he said.

Today's competition will be a shorter race for Smith, who is preparing for the October Ironman competition in Hawaii. The Ironman event consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.

Competitors in this weekend's event will swim for a third of a mile in the Gulf of Mexico, bike for 13 miles over the Sand Key Bridge, the Belleair Beach Causeway and the Clearwater Memorial Causeway, and run 3.1 miles on a flat, fast course, said Amy Morrow, spokeswoman for Morton Plant Mease Health Care.

There will be some lanes closed during the race, and police officers will be present to monitor traffic and the safety of the competitors, Morrow said. The event should end about 10 a.m.

The top five male and top five female finishers will split a $3,000 prize. The first-place male and female winners will each receive $500.

A little more than $20,000 from sponsorships was raised for the foundation, Morrow said.

Participants should check the weather before the triathlon, Morrow said. If there are showers, coordinators will decide if the event should be altered.

[Last modified July 15, 2006, 22:01:54]