For seven years, the Sunset Hills Park and Recreation Department has hosted its annual triathlon for local runners, bikers and swimmers. Now, participants might see this tradition’s “sunset” as registration numbers continue to dwindle.
According to Gerald Brown, director of Parks and Recreation, the triathlon had over 300 participants in its first few years. This year, the event — held on June 22 at Watson Trail Park — only garnered 132 participants. He partially credits this to “the saturated market of triathlons.”
“It might have been our last year this year,” Brown said at the Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen meeting on July 8. “A lot of resources are being utilized for an event that started at 350 (registrants), and every year it keeps dropping off.”
A month prior to the June 22 race, the Sunset Hills Parks and Recreation Department posted on Facebook that enrollment was lower than expected for the 2025 triathlon. “If we do not hit our minimum enrollment numbers by noon on (May 30), the triathlon may get canceled,” it stated.
This isn’t the first time low registration rates have raised issues. In 2022, a statement was released on the Sunset Hills website that, due to low registration, the triathlon event would be canceled that year.
Nothing is set in stone, as Parks and Recreation evaluates the triathlon and where to go from here. Brown says they are currently looking at replacing the triathlon with a “run series”, which would be three or four different runs at various tracks and paths throughout Sunset Hills and potentially expanding into neighboring communities.
