The Long Beach Legacy Triathlon is coming to town on July 20 and 21, offering participants the opportunity to race the same course that Olympians and Paralympians are expected to face during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Carson native Glenn Smith, a retired arson investigator who spent 32 years with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, will be attempting his first triathlon that weekend and did not shy away from the Olympic distance.
The course includes a 1.5 kilometer swim near Alamitos Beach, 40 kilometer bike ride — consisting mostly of Shoreline and Queensway drives — and a 10 kilometer run that loops three times around the Shoreline Marina.
The triathlon also offers a sprint race that is half the distance for each category – 750-meter swim, 20K bike and 5K run.
Smith, 62, chose the Olympic distance because he’s an avid biker and said he felt the nearly 25-mile bike ride was more of a challenge.
He has completed a roundtrip bike ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco four times in his life and biked across the country in 40 days in 2001 to commemorate the firefighters who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks.
The swim, just shy of a mile, is giving him the most pause ahead of the competition, Smith said.
Deb Carabet, vice president and managing director of L.A. Tri Club, has been vital in helping him train in the ocean compared to swimming in the pool, Smith said. He plans to walk the final 6.2 miles after completing the swimming and biking portions.
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“I’m in no big rush to finish this,” Smith said. “It’s more important for me to finish this than it is for me to place or anything of that sort.”
Both the Olympic and sprint distances have a relay option, meaning participants can choose to complete one of the three components and have two other participants complete the other portions.
Registration fees for individuals are $240 for the sprint distance and $273 for the Olympic distance. The Corporate Challenge also features a relay option, with a mandatory fundraising minimum of $250 per participant with all proceeds going toward pediatric cancer research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Corporate partners thus far include Disney, Netflix, Google and Warner Bros Discovery. As of Thursday afternoon, the fundraising total had reached $416,168.
USA Triathlon announced in 2018 that it would be the first national governing body to bring a sporting event to Southern California as part of the lead-up to the 2028 Olympics. This year the organizing duties were handed over to the governing body’s partner, Supertri.
Michael D’hulst, CEO and co-founder of Supertri, said he is anticipating double the amount of participants compared to the 2022 Toyota Legacy triathlon in Long Beach.
“If you’re a first-timer, you’re not alone, sign up and you get a support system already in place,” D’hulst said. That support system includes a swim clinic that takes place on the course leading up to the event.
Triathlon participants can also have their children participate in the Splash & Dash event on Saturday or the Tot Trot on Sunday.
The Splash & Dash will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday with a 100 meter swim and a half-mile run. Children age 7 to 18 can participate in the Splash & Dash.
The Tot Trot is open to all kids ages 3-12, consisting of a 50-yard dash for kids 3-7 and a 100-yard dash for kids 8-12. Each race starts at 9:45 a.m. Sunday and each participant will get a medal, t-shirt and other goodies.
The Olympic distance race begins at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, with the sprint distance race kicking off at 7:55 a.m.
Registration for the 2024 Long Beach Triathlon is still open and can be found at legacylongbeach.com.