The race season here, which is to say events that include road races, triathlons, and bay and ocean swimming competitions, will begin Saturday with the Robert J. Aaron memorial Olympic-distance triathlon in Montauk, to be followed on Sunday by the Montauk Mile.
Wetsuits definitely are being suggested for the one-mile swim, the triathlon's director, Merle McDonald-Aaron, said Friday. Lake Montauk's temperature, she estimated, would probably be "in the 60s" on race day.
The 20-mile bike leg will take contestants from the Star Island Drive staging area up West Lake Drive to Gosman's and back down to Route 27 and out to the Montauk Lighthouse. The cyclists will go up East Like Drive and back down to 27 on the way to the Star Island Drive finish line. The competition finishes with a 10K run through windy, hilly roads.
"We'll also have a sprint section, as we did last year," said McDonald-Aaron, "a half-mile swim, a 14-mile bike, and a 3.4-mile run."
About 300 or so competitors are expected. "The days when we had fields of 700 are gone, though there are quite a few young people, men and women, who are coming into the sport." As for the drop-off, she said, "Life happens. But that's just my opinion."
The race's two-time winner, William Huffman of New York City's Full Throttle triathlon team, has registered, McDonald-Aaron added, as has 2023's female runner-up. She hadn't heard as yet from last year's female champion, Jillian Jacinth of Babylon.
The Lustgarten Foundation, which raises money for pancreatic cancer research, is the triathlon's chief beneficiary, though the Montauk Fire Department and its ambulance squad and fire police, the St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church's youth group, and the East Hampton Kiwanis Club are also beneficiaries. Competitors can register through runsignup.com. The start time is 7:30 a.m.
On Sunday, the Montauk Mile, which benefits the Old Montauk Athletic Club, is to be contested along South Edgemere Street, with the men's race to start near the railroad station at 10:30 and the women's at 11. The point-to-point race ends at the Lions Field finish line, near the Montauk Brewery, which has offered free pints to of-age finishers. Ryan Fowkes, the holder of six running records at George Washington University, was last year's winner, in a record-setting time of 4 minutes and 22.80 seconds, though should Fowkes try for a three-peat, he may have his hands full if James Burke, a Springs resident and Port Jefferson High School grad who holds the county indoor mile record, at 4:08, and who won the Dock Race last November, shows up.
On Saturday, June 15, serious runners will be able to double-dip, at the Beacon of Hope 5K through Camp Hero at Montauk Point at 10 that morning, and later, at the Shelter Island 10K, which is to begin in front of the Shelter Island School at 5:30.
Two natives of Ethiopia who live in the Bronx, Yenew Alamirew Getahun, 33, and Fantu Zewude Jifar, 26, were the male and female winners in last year's Shelter Island 10K. Sergey Avramenko, 38, a native of Belarus who lives in Southampton, and Lara Jacobs, 23, of New York City, were winners in the Beacon of Hope race, which benefits Lucia's Angels and the Coalition for Women's Cancers.
July's race calendar will include the Firecracker 8K in Southampton, on the 7th, I-Tri's Youth Triathlon at Sag Harbor's Long Beach on the 13th, the Lighthouse Sprint Triathlon in Montauk on the 21st, the Montauk Ocean Swim Challenge on the 27th, and Jordan's Run, in memory of the late Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, in Sag Harbor on the 28th.
August's list includes the Race of Hope in Southampton on the 4th, Ellen's Run at the Southampton Intermediate School on the 18th, and the Hampton Lifeguard Association's Red Devil swims at Amagansett's Atlantic Avenue Beach on the 31st.
The Great Bonac 10 and 5Ks are to be held in Springs on Labor Day, with the Mashashimuet Park Family 5K and the Steve Tarpinian memorial Mighty Montauk Triathlon, both in Sag Harbor, to follow, on Sept. 7th and 8th.
