THE popular Sparke Helmore Newcastle City triathlon has run its race.
Logistics issues have forced organisers to pull the pin after 32 consecutive years, leaving the city with two major triathlons.
Staged at Newcastle's picturesque Camp Shortland and Horseshoe Beach, the Sparke Helmore has become an institution and regularly attracted more than1,500 competitors, ranging from first-timers to world champions.
Paul Humphreys, who has organised the event for 25 years, admitted it was sad to cancel the event but said it had become "too hard".
"The approval process to run an event in the east end of Newcastle is diabolical," Humphreys said.
"There are a lot of balls in the air for a triathlon event and to get them all to land is hard."
Urban development in Honeysuckle and changes in traffic management and restrictions have resulted in drastic changes to the course.
On-going issues, particularly with the bike leg, have proved insurmountable.
"I know when I first I did the triathlon in 1996 - before I was the organiser - we went all the way to Carrington," Humphreys said.
"Slowly the bike course has been getting smaller. We had the development at Honeysuckle and we had to bring the course back to Argyle Street. Then we came back to Watt Street.
"Last year we had a landslip on Shortland Esplanade. Half the road is closed off and potentially it could be like that for the next two or three years.
"When you have 600 to 700 bikes and you are trying to get them around a 2.7-kilometre loop over 10 kilometres it becomes a nightmare.
"We used to run up to King Edward Park once upon a time and that got harder and harder. You have to pay to use the breakwall now.
"The car park at Nobbys, where we have staged it for last few years, is problematic.
"There's just been a million logistical issues that have caused us problems over the years."
At its peak around 2010 the Sparke Helmore Triathlon was a three-day festival.
"There was a run on Friday night, women's and teams triathlon on Saturday and men's on Sunday," Humphreys said.
"It was very prestigious. We had lots of really good athletes. Lots of people who had a crack whether it was in a team or as an individual.
"It was certainly my first triathlon. It got me interested in the sport."
Hamilton triathlete Monty Dixon won the men's sprint event in November for a third straight year.
Dixon, 21, completed the sprint distance course of 750-metre swim, 18-kilometre cycle and 5km run in 58 minutes and 49 seconds.
The event had a four-race format, including the sprint course, aquabike (750m swim, 20km cycle), enticer (375m swim, 12km cycle, 2.5km run) and junior races.
An illegally parked car along Shortland Esplanade forced the bike leg to be shortened,
Fellow locals Nathan Stewart, Boyd Conrick and Regina Wright are multiple winners and have become synonymous with the event.
The Island Triathlon in Stockton and Lake Macquarie Triathlon remain features on the calendar and are growing in popularity.
"We created an event about five years ago over Stockton," Humphreys said. "We thought the writing might have been on the wall for the Sparke Helmore.
"The Island Triathlon, which has been moved to September, is essentially our alternative.
"Most triathlons, because of the traffic management, have another event run in conjunction, otherwise they're just not viable.
"We do a run called the Stockton Sunrise Run on the Saturday and then we run the triathlon on the Sunday.
"We had about 1000 athletes this year. The Island Triathlon is growing and is popular.
"There has been a lot of change to the national triathlon calendar. We didn't want to clash with other events which are bigger.
"We are running the same event twice in one year.
"The Stockton community seem to like it.
"The other event that we created three years ago, is the Lake Macquarie triathlon.
"Both events have the most potential to grow.
"At Lake Macquarie we are based at Speers Point Park and use the esplanade which is the perfect road infrastructure."
