More than 80 contestants are gearing up to swim, bike and run in Le Mars' first triathlon, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8.

People are coming from as far as Boulder, Colo. for the Le Mars YMCA and Wells' Dairy Sprint Triathlon, and others will be pulling in from South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and from all over Iowa. About 20 people from Le Mars are signed up.

"And there's a good number of first timers," said Angela Loutsch of the YMCA.

The Le Mars YMCA and Wells' Dairy Sprint Triathlon will be based at the outdoor pool in the south end of Le Mars, with the outdoor pool used for the 300 meter swim, an out-and-back route on C-30 for the 11 mile bike ride, and a residential street route for the 3.1 mile run. [Click to enlarge]

Registration is still open for newbies, veterans and teams to join the triathlon, which will involve three hundred yards of swimming, 11 miles of biking, and 3.1 miles of running.

The swimming -- six down-and-back laps -- will be in the outdoor pool. The bike route will take bikers east of town on county road C-30 to county road K-64 where they'll turn around and head back in. The running route goes through the residential roads south of the YMCA and 12th Street S.E. All transitions will take place in the pool parking lot.

As of Wednesday, 59 individuals have already signed up, plus eight teams, for a total of more than 80 people. The deadline to register for the triathlon is Sept. 3. Any mailed entries must be postmarked by that date.

The YMCA is working with All Sport Central, who will officiate and time the race with computer chips on each athlete's ankle -- made possible by a Wells' Dairy sponsorship.

"They're excited about our numbers," Loutsch said of All Sport Central. "And we still have two full weeks for people to sign up. My goal is 100 people, and we're close."

Volunteers are also needed for the event, Loutsch said.

"We have about ten and we need about 50," she said.

Volunteers get a free t-shirt that must be worn on the day of the event. Loutsch said they'll need volunteers in the pool area making sure swimmers aren't running into each other, in the transition area to keep things smooth as athletes change from swimming to biking to running, and along both the biking and running course to direct the competitors and offer water.

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"Volunteers will help make sure the athletes get the right of way -- we want to always keep athletes first priority," Loutsch said.

They'll have volunteers on the corners and at turnaround points to keep the athletes on course.

"We really only need a couple hours of people's time," Loutsch said.

"Based on the numbers now, the last person should be finishing by about 11 a.m."

After the event, HyVee is hosting lunch -- open to the community -- serving up brats, burgers, fruit, chips and a drink for a small cost. Athletes eat free and volunteers will get a reduced rate. The lunch runs from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with the awards ceremony at around 11 a.m., depending on how fast they tabulate results.

Volunteers need to show up about 7 a.m.

Loutsch said her day will start even earlier.

"I'll be getting out of bed at 4:30," she laughed.

Organizing the event has meant everything from meeting with Fire Chief Wayne Schipper on safety in case of lightning or other bad weather down to getting triathlon-style bike racks from Sioux Falls.

"We'll have some bikes coming through that might be $1,000 bikes," Loutsch said. "If they would get scratched we could be in trouble."

Since the event is taking place in Iowa, the planners will be watching the weather.

"If it rains we're still good," Loutsch said. "If it's lightning, we'll have to evacuate the pool area, and we obviously don't want people out on the C-30 biking route if it's lightning and thundering."

High or low temperature shouldn't affect the race, other than having more water stations available if it is very warm, she added.

Community members who aren't competing or volunteering can still be part of the event, Loutsch said.

"We sent out letters to houses on the running route," she said. "We're asking for vehicles to be moved to make it safer for the athletes. And we want to encourage everybody -- people on the routes and any others -- to come out and cheer these people on."

A lot of people on the course will be trying for their personal best, or just trying to complete their first triathlon.

"And the more people feel supported, the more they're going to want to come back, and we'll be able to hold this year after year."

Registration for the triathlon is available online at www.allsportcentral.com. The registration fee, $40 for individuals and $60 for a team, includes a free T-shirt, the timing chip from All Sport Central and lunch. Competitors must be 15 or older.

Maps of the running and biking routes are available at www.usatf.org by clicking on "Find a running route" at the bottom right of the web page and typing in "LeMars." For more information, contact the Le Mars Family YMCA at 546-6655.