Having recently endured icy streets, snow-covered trails and cold temperatures that chased local endurance athletes indoors for a couple of days, it might be difficult to ponder the notion of a triathlon in the heat of summer. But we just might have an exciting new one in Denver this year that finishes at Invesco Field at Mile High.
An inaugural Denver Triathlon has been tentatively scheduled for July 24. It’s not a done deal — a lot of details still must be worked out — but Ironman triathlete Chris Laskey is giving his all to make it happen.
“It’s not that this area is lacking for triathlons,” Laskey said. “It’s just that, with the amount of triathletes in the area and the type of city Denver is, it’s time for (a triathlon) that showcases the city and becomes a major marquee event. Not just for the mountain region, but for the nation.”
Laskey, 31, grew up in Lakewood and spent a few years putting on endurance events in Florida and California before returning to Colorado last November, hoping to give the Mile High City a new endurance event.
“I’ve always wanted to do a triathlon in the city of Denver,” Laskey says.
Laskey has been in discussions with the city to work out the considerable logistical challenges involved in staging an Olympic-distance triathlon (1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run) in an urban area. Denver supports two successful marathons, so it ought to be able to support a triathlon given the thousands of endurance athletes in the area.
The Denver Triathlon would be scheduled only two weeks after the high-profile Boulder Peak Triathlon, also an Olympic-distance event, but Laskey is confident the two events could co-exist. An Olympic-distance triathlon doesn’t tear down the body the way a marathon does, so it would be possible for a determined triathlete to do both events.
“There’s been a lot going on in Boulder and the surrounding communities, but I just felt like there’s been such great opportunities in cities like Chicago and New York and Los Angeles for major urban triathlons,” Laskey said. “It’s something that can really showcase and highlight the biggest city in the area.”
One of the biggest challenges for Laskey is figuring out where to locate the swim segment. He wants to use Sloan’s Lake, but it would have to pass EPA health standards first.
“It’s a very shallow lake — like nine feet deep at its deepest,” Laskey said. “If there’s any runoff into the lake, it could create an unsafe environment.”
His second choice would be Rocky Mountain Lake, a lake just south of Interstate 70 between Federal and Lowell. He’s even formulating contingency plans where the swim could be moved from Sloan’s Lake to Rocky Mountain Lake 24 hours before the race, if that were necessary for health concerns.
Laskey has worked out a few potential routes for the bicycle portion of the event, hoping to have the bike course pass through downtown Denver at some point. Most likely the bike-to-run transition area would be at Invesco Field, with the run utilizing the Platte River bike path before returning to the stadium for the finish.
Another challenge Laskey faces is generating sponsorship revenue to make the event viable. Given the short timeline he’s on now, he said he’s prepared to lose money the first year.
“I’m ready, prepared, and have investors that are going to support me,” Laskey said. “Even if we lose money the first year, that doesn’t mean we can’t be successful moving into years two and three. I think that’s where sponsorships will come.”
So, will there be a Denver Triathlon this July?
“I think it’s realistic; it’s just trying to figure out the logistics,” said Kevin Scott, event liaison for the city of Denver. “We support events; we just have to balance out the problems they may be causing.”
Here’s hoping Laskey can pull it off.
“I have to be of the mind-set that it’s going to happen,” Laskey said. “To move forward, and to put as much heart and soul into it as I’m doing, I have to be presumptuous and assume it’s going to happen until it’s not.”
