By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The Mission Man Triathlon, which had existed for nearly 20 years, has been discontinued as organizers saw declining participation.
The triathlon had served as a missions fundraiser for Burlington’s Front Street United Methodist Church and a staple on the late-July calendar at Lake Cammack.
“Some things like that just run their course,” said David Hoxie, chairman of the church’s triathlon committee.
Event organizers with the church have called it an agonizing decision to end the event. Several meetings were held following the 2024 edition.
“We decided to let it ride,” Hoxie said.
At its height, the church raised approximately $40,000 to $45,000 annually for missions from the triathlon. That number began to decline, and then never picked up again following the pandemic, in part because of dwindling sponsorship.
The loss of major sponsorship funds from Buckner Heavylift Cranes, which along the way became a title sponsor, was among the factors in the decision, Hoxie said.
He said the church’s decision, which came following assessing the 2024 race, was mostly based on not raising as much money for missions in relation to the time and resources needed to put on the triathlon. By last year, the church raised about $6,000 from that event.
“Still nothing to sneeze at,” Hoxie said. “We’re going to look at other ways to support missions.”
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The church’s announcement said those funds were largely directed to support non-profit organizations in Alamance County.
There were 145 participants in 2023 and 135 entrants in the 2024 competition. In the inaugural event in 2006, there were more than 400 participants.
The competition involved a 750-meter swim, 15-mile bike course, and 5-kilometer run. With the City of Burlington’s approval, the lake was used for swimming, the cycling portion was on Union Ridge Road and connecting roads, and the running conducted on trails at the marina.
Hoxie said there was strong participation from the church in putting on the event, with as many as 80 volunteers assisting with set-up, race-day operations, and clean-up. Some church members provided homemade goodies as part of the postrace snacks for participants and spectators.
Before it was discontinued, the Mission Man Triathlon had been listed for July 29.
Another triathlon moves in
There was a replacement for the Mission Man Triathlon at Lake Cammack.
Triple Threat Triathlon was contested as part of a series conducted by Trivium Racing. The Burlington event was held June 21 with 155 registered entrants.
“That is really great for the first time,” race director Priscilla Nobles said. “People swooned over the event.”
Trivium Racing had conducted the official timing for the Mission Man Triathlon the past few years. So Nobles said when her group learned the Mission Man Triathlon wouldn’t be contested, there was interest in holding an event in its place.
“We’re totally using this venue because it’s awesome,” she said.
Trivium Racing’s competition had two formats last month at Lake Cammack.
One was done in increments of 250-yard swim, 7.5 bike course, and 1.4-mile run, with each segment completed three times for what was called Triple Threat Triathlon.
The winner was Sam Binder, a 17-year-old from Summerfield. He completed the competition in 1 hour, 43 minutes, 47.52 seconds. That was a comfortable margin on runner-up Royce Scrivano (1:49:25) from Greensboro.
Top area finishers were Mebane’s Robert Locker (10th, 2:05:08.33) and Burlington’s John Cole (13th, 2:07:54.45) along with former Burlington resident Mary Lynne McElhaney (39th, 2:23:48.52) of Greensboro.
“We had no idea what would happen,” Nobles said. “This was our first time doing anything like the triple.”
There were 83 individual competitors for the format that included three loops. Another 41 finished the sprint triathlon (completing each phase just once).
In the sprint version, Adam Burke, a 47-year-old man from Raleigh, won in 34:38.14. The runner-up was Ashley Hoke, a 14-year-old girl from Raleigh, in 41:29.39. Third place went to Burlington’s Zachary Lockhart, 43, in 43:00.93.
There were additional competitors in a team division, with individuals sharing the duties among the phases. There were also a few participants in a youth division.
Nobles said her group likes a June date because it’s potentially cooler than in July. However, temperatures reached 90 degrees on the date of the event.
“We did not get cooler,” she said.
