Oak Mountain State Park to host Cross Triathlon World Championship

PELHAM, Al.
 Oak Mountain State Park in May will be the host site for an event that's expected to bring more than 450 world-class athletes to Pelham.

Casey Fannin, will race for Team USA

Many of them will compete May 19 in the 2012 International Triathlon Union's Cross Triathlon World Championship, which is being held in the United States for the first time. ITU's inaugural Cross Tri World Championship was held last year in Extremadura, Spain.
More than 200 of the participants this year are expected to be from other countries, said Chris Hershey, an event planner for Shelby County.
The world championship, which involves a 1½ km swim, 30 km mountain bike ride and 10 km trail run, will be held in conjunction with the seventh annual XTERRA Southeast Championship race on the same day.
"It's a true world championship weekend that will bring athletes from over 25 countries and 40 states to Alabama," Pelham Mayor Don Murphy said. "It's going to be a big weekend for this area. We're just overjoyed to have them to come to our city."
The group organizing the weekend -- TEAM Unlimited/XTERRA -- said Oak Mountain is the perfect venue for the event, where competitors will swim, bike and run among the winding trails.
"Oak Mountain State Park is amazing," said Conrad Stoltz, a four-time XTERRA world champion from South Africa. "It's a true XTERRA course with a nice warm water swim in a beautiful lake, a real mountain biker's course with climbing, technical sections, and fun corners, and a tough but scenic run. This course is fully worthy of hosting a big international field of off-road athletes."

 

Hershey said it will cost $19,000 to hold the event. The city of Pelham has pledged $5,000, and the city of Hoover has pledged $3,000, while the Alabama Department of Tourism is giving $2,500 toward the event, he said. Shelby County will make up the difference, he said. Pelham and Oak Mountain State Park partnered with the Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers to finish the trail course.
The competition is expected to be an economic boost to area cities as athletes stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and shop at malls.
"It's a win-win situation for everyone," Hershey said. "Events like this can only benefit the park and the area as a whole."
Murphy said the local economic impact is expected to be more than $500,000.
Trey Garman, TEAM Unlimited/XTERRA vice president, said athletes from the different countries will wear their team colors as they compete in the championship. Among the countries expected to be represented are South Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Kyrgyzstan, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Portugal and Austria.
"It's a really big deal," Garman said. "When we thought about destinations to host such an event, Oak Mountain is hands down our best course. Oak Mountain has received a lot of accolades for being world-class."
Double Oak Trail at Oak Mountain State Park is part of "The Crown Jewels" in The Trail, a special trail-running publication put out by Runner's World magazine.
"To have this in Pelham and the United States is huge," said Casey Fannin, a two-time XTERRA world champion from Hoover.
Murphy said he hopes the international competition will become an annual event at Oak Mountain.