A biathlon like no other will be held Saturday, Nov. 15 as competitors race on the beach strand vying for the title of King of Wrightsville Beach.
The inaugural King of Wrightsville Beach Biathlon is a bike and run competition held entirely on the beach. In place of the typical streamlined racing bicycles, most competitors will ride bikes with specialized 5-inch-wide tires for coasting over the soft beach sand.
Fat bikes were originally designed to ride over snow, race director Shawn Spencer said during a Nov. 6 phone interview. He now sells them in his shop, Bike Cycles, and said the biathlon is a good opportunity to show the public how the bikes perform over sand.
“It’s super low impact on the beach,” he said. “They can be ridden on the sand … but then you can also ride them just as a normal bike on the street. They’re about 10 percent less efficient comparatively but about 80 percent more fun, so it’s just a neat machine.”
Race organizers will have several fat bikes on site race day, Spencer added, so curious onlookers can try them.
Spencer said he has lived in Wilmington his whole life, competing in or organizing various triathlons and paddleboard races. He decided to create the King of Wrightsville Beach Biathlon to introduce a new type of competition and racing equipment to the active local fitness community.
The race begins around 9 a.m. in front of the Blockade Runner Beach Resort. Bikers will traverse a 1.6-mile loop to Johnnie Mercer’s Pier and back, weaving through the thick, soft sand as well as the hard-packed sand near the water’s edge. Competitors will complete four laps, which Spencer said makes the event very spectator friendly.
The racers then run to the south end of Wrightsville Beach and back, a total of 3.2 miles, finishing in front of the Blockade Runner.
Spencer said he expects participation to be low this first year, but he sees the race becoming a special event for the town in the future, bringing competitors from all over the country to the beach during the off-season.
“We see an opportunity to be the first in the country to have such an event,” he said. “It’s just going to take an inaugural year of people seeing and understanding how these bikes work.”
Competitor Dane Britt said he was one of the first people in Wilmington to buy a fat bike, but he has seen interest in them grow recently.
“Six months or so ago they came on the scene, and now they’ve gotten really popular really fast,” he said. “In the underground there’s a craze about them but we’re trying to show mainstream bicycle riders that these things are awesome. Riding down the beach on one of these, it’s euphoric.”
No matter how much fun the biathlon competitors are having on their bikes, Britt added, they will still be racing to claim the title of King of Wrightsville Beach.
“We’re all friendly and high-fiving and stuff … but don’t worry, I will be kicking Sean [Spencer’s] bicycle over at some point,” Britt joked. “There’s a lot on the line!”
A portion of the race’s proceeds go to the Wrightsville Beach Foundation. For more information or to register, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/king-of-wrightsville-beach-biathlon-tickets-13709628869
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