By Vic Monaco, Managing Editor
HIGHTSTOWN — About 200 participants are expected here early Sunday morning for the first Hightstown Sprint Triathlon, which may become an annual event.
And the money raised thus far will allow proponents of a local skateboard park to begin the design phase of that project.
Event organizer Darek Hahn said this week that 160 people had preregistered, ranging in age from 14 to 66, and 30 to 40 more are expected to do so Sunday morning.
“Typically in a race like this you’ll have 10 percent that are advanced triathletes, that is they’ve done a lot of triathlons and are racing to compete to win,” said Mr. Hahn, a triathlete and member of the borough Parks and Recreation Commission. “About 50 to 60 percent have done some triathlons and think it’s fun, and 30 to 40 percent are newcomers.”
Although a longtime runner, one such newcomer is Borough Councilman Ryan Rosenberg, who has been training four or five days a week for about six weeks.
“I’m excited,” he said this week. “This is my first foray into competitive swimming and I’ve come light-years.”
“We have people coming to this event from as far away as Washington, D.C., and it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase our town to people who wouldn’t normally have a reason to come to Hightstown,” added Councilman Rosenberg, a leader of Downtown Hightstown, a project of the Greater Hightstown-East Windsor Improvement Project.
The plan for the event was announced in May as the brainchild of the borough Parks and Recreation Commission. Proceeds are earmarked for a proposed skateboard park near Hightstown High School. So far, $6,000 to $7,000 in net profits have been raised and more will be added through registration fees Sunday, Mr. Hahn said.
Richard Pratt, the primary skate park advocate, recently told the triathlon committee that about $7,000 is needed to begin the design phase.
“We can use those plans to attract bigger corporate sponsors and to help seek grants,” Mr. Pratt said this week.
The triathlon is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. with a quarter-mile swim in Peddie Lake, starting behind the Hightstown branch of the Mercer County Library. The lake, which was 71 degrees this week, was cleaned up last weekend by the Capital City Dive Club, of Trenton. Everything from bicycles to keys were removed, according to a press release from Downtown Hightstown.
The Stonybrook-Millstone Watershed Association routinely tests the water quality of the lake and recent reports on such contaminants as nitrates and phosphates have all rendered good results, according to Mr. Hahn. A second recent test for E. coli bacteria done this week by the watershed association came back with levels well within acceptable standards set by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Swimmers will enter the lake in four staggered groups, or “waves,” based on such criteria as gender, age and weight.
The swim will be followed by a 10-mile bike course, starting near Wachovia Bank on Mercer Street, which will loop twice around the one-square mile borough. After that, a 5K run will send competitors through the Peddie School campus before they finish at the main footbridge over the lake’s spillway.
Mr. Hahn explained that the early start time is meant to avoid vehicular traffic.
“We’re not closing the roads, but at that time of the morning there won’t be any traffic on the roads,” he said.
Police Chief James Eufemia added that officers will be posted at crossways and there will be about 50 volunteers helping throughout the course. Police overtime costs will be covered with proceeds from the event, he and Mr. Hahn said.
The fastest competitors are expected to finish between 8:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m., with the slower participants crossing the finish line between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., Mr. Hahn said. A presentation of trophies is slated for 10:30 a.m.
For more information, including maps, visit hightstown-skatepark.org/Triathlon.html or contact Mr. Hahn at 865-1081 or [email protected].
Staff writer Geoffrey Wertime contributed to this story.

