History of St. Anthony’s Triathlon
St. Anthony’s Triathlon began in 1984 as the Tampa Bay Triathlon and was part of the 10-city U.S. Triathlon Series. That year 600 athletes completed the 1.5K (0.9 mi.) swim, 40K (24.8 mi.) bike and 10K (6.2 mi.) run at Fort DeSoto. The following year St. Anthony’s gained ownership of the event and moved it to the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg.
Today, St. Anthony’s Triathlon is considered to be one of the sport’s leading events in the U.S. Thousands of professional and amateur athletes of all ages and abilities, and from all around the world, will again gather along St. Petersburg’s waterfront to compete in the 36th St. Anthony’s Triathlon.
What began as a single race has grown to encompass three events — the Olympic distance St. Anthony’s Triathlon, the St. Anthony’s Sprint Triathlon and the Meek & Mighty Triathlon. More than 3,000 athletes from 41 states, the District of Columbia and eight countries participated in the 2018 events.
Active.com selected St. Anthony’s Triathlon as one of the 12 “must-do” triathlons, calling it “One of the best early-season triathlons in the U.S.” CompleteTri.com included St. Anthony’s Triathlon on its inaugural list of “10 favorite destination races in the U.S.” and Triathlon Magazine Canada included St. Anthony’s Triathlon as one of the “5 Bucket-List Olympic Distance Triathlons in North America.”