For the past 23 years, the Columbus Challenge Triathlon has been a summer staple on the city’s athletic calendar.
But the 23rd event, which was held Aug. 4, may have been the last. Foundation For Youth, which has put on the triathlon all 23 of those years, announced earlier this week that it will no longer host the event.
“The primary reason is that this was a fund-raiser for FFY and when we took a look at our return on investment, it just wasn’t there,” FFY executive director Chuck Kime said. “These events take too much of our time that we need to use helping kids. We feel like there are other ways we can use the resources to accomplish that.”
Kime said the recommended return on investment is $5 for every $1 spent. He said FFY was getting only $1 for every $1 invested, and that was before including the time commitment from its staff.
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Kime said FFY may put on some type of community-minded type of event along the lines of its “Great Girls, Wonderful Women” event to replace the triathlon. But he is open to adding another athletic event.
“The conversations we have still have some healthy lifestyle component to it,” Kime said. “We haven’t settled on what the event will be yet, but healthy lifestyle is one of our four cornerstones, and to bring attention to that seems like a good idea.”
About 400 competitors took part in last year’s triathlon events, which included a sprint distance, an Olympic Distance and a duathlon, as well as 5K and 10K races. Kime said that number was similar to the numbers the triathlon had seen in recent years.
Kime said missing budget had nothing to do with discontinuing the triathlon.
“This year, we were really proud of the event,” Kime said. “It might have been our best, most efficient year as far as pulling off the event. But the goal of the event was to raise money for the kids. The amount of work that Laura (Moses) and our athletic staff could be diverting to our kids is a huge detraction.”
The triathlon has been held the first weekend in August for several years. In December, the city announced that it would be hosting a Tough Mudder event on the same weekend that the triathlon was traditionally held. But Kime said that did not factor into the decision, which had already been made.
Max Henry, a local doctor and Ironman triathlete who has volunteered at the past few Columbus Challenge events, said he hopes to talk to Kime about keeping the triathlon going in some form. Henry said the event would have to go back to the basics to cut back on the cost, liability and the number of volunteers needed.
“We’re all saddened,” Henry said. “This was such a nice local triathlon for people to do their first one at. I’m going to talk to Chuck later to see if we can get in going again.”
Henry and his son Malachi, also an Ironman triathlete, are co-founders and presidents of Tri 812, a nonprofit organization of triathletes. They met with fellow board members Jim Lewis, Barbara Sallee and Erika Kahlenbeck on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, local triathletes Laura Gilbert, Blair Kuethe and Nate McLeese have started another triathlon club out of The Bicycle Station called “The Bicycle Station Multisport.” The club is for triathletes, mountain bikers, road cyclers and cyclocross and had its first meeting last week
Gilbert, who won the Columbus Challenge Olympic distance in 2014 and its sprint triathlon in 2015 and 2018, will miss the event.
“I’m disappointed,” Gilbert said. “I always liked to come out and compete at the Columbus Challenge. It was a great community event and brought a lot of people in the community together — volunteers, athletes and spectators. It was a good event for all athletes because it was for people who were competing in their first triathlon or for all athletes, so I hate to see it go. I’m hopeful that another organization will pick up the planning and maybe have another triathlon here in Columbus.”
