The Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco is a Showcase of the World's Finest Athletes

This June 3^rd, in San Francisco, California, just off Pier 39 in the Fisherman's Wharf area, you can see a truly one-of-a-kind event take place. Eighteen hundred triathletes will converge upon San Francisco for the Alcatraz Triathlon.

The triathlons participants have already qualified at events in Florida, Oregon, New York, California, England, and France.

On June 2^nd and 3^rd a Fitness Festival is held at Marina Green to commemorate the annual triathlon. With forty booths of health and fitness information, a climbing wall, and a beer garden, the Fitness Festival has something for the health-minded and the not so health-minded. The Fitness Festival is open to the public and it is free! There is truly something for everyone, with your only cost being parking at the pier.

If you want to see some of the world's finest athletes compete, arrive early on Sunday morning. At 6:15 a.m., the triathletes depart Pier 3 aboard the San Francisco Belle to be taken out to Alcatraz Island. At 7:00 a.m., the triathlon begins when athletes are released from the boats to swim the 1.5 miles between the departing point from the ferry near Alcatraz to the Marina Green Beach.

From the beach, athletes continue on into a one-mile run to the Marina Green where they will pick up their bikes near the St. Francis Yacht Club for the third leg of the race. That third leg consists of an eighteen mile bike ride from the Little Marina Green area down Marina Boulevard, through Crissy Field, and on to the Presidio, to the Palace of the Legion of Honor, through Golden Gate Park, and down The Great Highway, and then back again by the same grueling route.

Once back at the Marina Green, athletes must endure the eight-mile run from Marina Green, through such popular spots as Fort Point, the Coastal Defense Batteries, over the Coastal Bluffs to Baker Beach, where they will face the Sand Ladder, a four-hundred step stairway made of sand. If they make it back to Lincoln Boulevard, the finish line is not far off.

The Alcatraz Triathlon is considered one of the top triathlons in the world, and it challenges even the most skilled athletes. Professionals, and extremely gifted amateurs, may make it through all three events and to the finish line in just over two hours. For others, it will take most of the day, and the awards ceremony (at noon on Sunday) will have taken place before they even make it back. Either way, any athlete who finishes the course, can consider themselves deserving of the praise of the spectators.

If you can't make it to San Francisco for this genuinely unique California event, it will air nationally on television. Watch for it in your local listings, or keep an eye on the website at http://www.tricalifornia.com/alcatraz/2004/index.htm to find out when it will be airing near you.