Wildflower Long Course Triathlon
May 3 & 4, 2003
Lake San Antonio, California
1.2m swim, 56m bike, 13.1m run
www.tricalifornia.com
Pro Start List

The Jamba Juice Wildflower Triathlon will celebrate its 21st year May 1-4 with its largest-ever field, its biggest expo and some of the most talented professional triathletes in the world. The pros will by vying for a $40,000 prize purse that goes ten deep for men and women. Among the amateurs, 7,000 athletes will take to the start line of three different events—a mountain bike sprint triathlon and a half-Ironman on Saturday, May 3, and an Olympic-distance race on Sunday, May 4.

Athletes racing the half-Ironman will cover a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run, while the Olympic-distance athletes will face a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10-kilometer run. The sprint triathlon will see athletes covering a quarter-mile swim, 9.7-mile mountain bike and two-mile run.

The fun begins Thursday afternoon when the expo opens and continues until the last runner crosses the finish line Sunday. For the first time, race organizer Tri-California will be opening its main stage entertainment and the race expo on Thursday.

"This is probably the largest weekend triathlon festival anywhere," said Tri-California's Brent Allen. Nearly 40,000 spectators are expected to travel to Lake San Antonio in remote Monterey County to witness athletes tackling the rugged hills of the popular and scenic course.

Professional triathletes racing the half-Ironman, always considered a superb test of early-season fitness among the elite long-distance athletes, are: five-time world champion Simon Lessing of Great Britain, two-time Ironman world champions Tim DeBoom of the U.S. and Peter Reid of Canada, three-time Ironman New Zealand winner Cameron Brown of New Zealand, two-time Ironman Malaysia winner Bryan Rhodes, Australian Olympian Craig Walton and countryman Marc Lees, and Americans Cameron Widoff (a four-time winner at Wildflower), Steve Larsen, Chris Lieto and pro-cyclist-turned-triathlete Chann McRae.

The women's field is similarly strong, boasting former Ironman champions and the first-ever winner of the Tri-California pro series, which is now in its second year. Series winner Becky Gibbs Lavelle of the U.S. was second to Germany's Katja Schumacher last year, and both are back to battle this year. They'll be joined by Canada's Heather Fuhr, a multi-time Ironman winner fresh off of her victory at Ralph's California Half-Ironman in April, new Ironman New Zealand champ Joanna Lawn of New Zealand, and Americans Gina Kehr, Shari Kain, Dolly Ginter, Jemima Iley, Nicole DeBoom and Alexis Waddel. Canada's Melissa Spooner, winner of Ironman races in Lanzarote, Lake Placid and New Zealand, will be making her return to racing after a year spent caring for her husband as he battled Crohn's disease.

The race also will continue to draw on its huge base of support from nearby California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo, as more than 1,400 volunteers from the university have already signed on to help.

The expo, one of the largest in the triathlon industry, this year boasts more than 60 vendors. The major race sponsor, Jamba Juice, is back for its third year of support, while the race has a new bike sponsor in Felt Racing Bikes. Other major sponsors include T1 Wetsuits by DeSoto, Powerbar, Power Gel, John Cobb's Bicycle Sports, Polar, Tri-Zone, Gatorade, Seagate, Finis, Triathlete Magazine, Competitor magazine, and Mutlisports.com official training programs for Tri-California Events.

The race is the first stop in the Tri-California pro series, which boasts a $20,000 prize purse for the overall winner of the five-race program. The series awards points for placement in these Tri-California races: Wildflower, Escape from Alcatraz, the Triathlon at Pacific Grove, Tinley's Dirty Adventures and the Treasure Island Triathlon. All athletes must race at Treasure Island, the last race in the series, to be eligible for the overall prize.