Las Vegas to Host Professional Triathletes Organization Event and Las Vegas Marathon

When the word “endurance” and Las Vegas are used in the same sentence, it’s generally referring to a crazy weekend on the Strip.

However, there will be a new level of endurance displayed over the coming weeks when two events come to Sin City that will test competitors’ physical limitations.

The Professional Triathletes Organization will host the Lake Las Vegas T100 Triathlon on October 19–20 just southeast of the city, which will feature some of the best male and female athletes in the world.

“Las Vegas is exactly the kind of iconic venue the T100 Tour needs to visit if it wants to take triathlon mainstream,” said Sam Renouf, PTO chief executive officer. “The city is arguably the sports and entertainment capital of the world and our ambition for the T100 World Triathlon Tour is to be the F1 of endurance sports.”

The inaugural Las Vegas Marathon will take place November 3, offering a marathon (26.2 miles), half marathon (13.1 miles) and a distance unique to the local Las Vegas area code (7.02 miles).

“Vegas has become a sports destination with the Golden Knights, the Raiders, bringing the baseball team over and all the other things that are happening,” said Joe Jurisic, executive race director of the Las Vegas Marathon. “You look at any other major city that has become a sports destination and they all have a city signature marathon.”

A Weekend at the Lake

The PTO event at Lake Las Vegas will be the sixth and penultimate leg of the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Tour, the last event before heading into the Dubai T100 World Championship Final on November 16–17. The event will cover 62 miles (1.2-mile swim, 49-mile bike, 11-mile run) with the women’s race at 8:15 a.m. and the men’s race at 2:15 p.m.

It starts with a two-lap swim in Lake Las Vegas before the bike course goes through Wetlands Park and Calico Ridge toward Henderson and back. The total elevation gain over the biking portion is 4,600 feet — the most on any bike course in the T100 series. The course finishes with a run around Reflection Bay Golf Club.

“We’ve been very clear with our strategy, saying that to elevate the sport we need to take our races to the global cities that the biggest sports go to,” Renouf said. “Lake Las Vegas is a natural series partner with the likes of Singapore, San Francisco, London, Ibiza and Dubai. Within that, triathlon obviously needs an open body of water to swim in as well as a bike and run course, which is why Lake Las Vegas and Henderson fit the bill so well.”

The Lake Las Vegas event will be the third stop in the United States for the PTO T100 Tour, which began the season in Miami in March and then made a stop in San Francisco in June. Between the athlete contracts, T100 race prize fund and T100 Triathlon World Tour pool, the series provides more than $7 million in compensation distributed in a way that not only rewards the winners, but recognizes all racers.

The Lake Las Vegas event will be important for the competitors at the top of the standings, as the series winner following the Dubai event will claim $210,000. The 20 best female and 20 best male triathletes in the world will compete head-to-head in the professional T100 races,

PTO also has more than 1,000 amateurs registered for the Lake Las Vegas open water swims (1.24 and 2.48 miles) as well as an amateur triathlon that follows the same course the pros will use.

“We have entrants from across the country, with participants from 39 different U.S. states taking part that weekend,” Renouf said. “We can also see that as many as 15 percent of all our participants are from outside the U.S.”

Two Americans competing in Lake Las Vegas toward the top of the T100 standings include Taylor Knibb — the 2022 and 2023 Women’s Ironman 70.3 World Champion and silver medalist in the mixed relay event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — and Sam Long, who placed second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2021.

The PTO events have become big business for the host cities; a May 2023 event in Ibiza netted nearly $14 million in local economic impact for the island. Renouf’s ambition is to get to 10 events for the 2025 T100 schedule. San Francisco and Lake Las Vegas are confirmed for 2025 and the PTO expects to announce another new location in North America later this year.

“Alongside the professional races, we are already building out a range of individual and multisport events designed to encourage people of all ages and abilities to have a go,” Renouf said.

Going the Distance in Vegas

For endurance competitors who prefer to stay out of the water and off the bike, the Las Vegas Marathon will create an experience with a little bit of everything the city has to offer. The course begins at Red Rock Canyon before a tour through Downtown Summerlin, Symphony Park, the Arts District, Las Vegas Boulevard, and the finish line at Fremont Street Experience.

“One of the things that we really wanted to do was spotlight parts of our city that sometimes are not spotlighted enough, these iconic locations that some people who are coming from out of town don’t know about,” said Jurisic.

Las Vegas has gone five years without a full-length marathon. The Rock ’N Roll Running Series discontinued its event in 2019, leaving the city without a signature marathon event that is a Boston Marathon qualifying course.

With a few weeks until race day, there are already more than 5,500 runners registered, with a projection of around 6,000 for the inaugural event.

“We won’t know economic impact numbers until afterwards, but we’ve partnered with a few of the area hotels and we know how many people are coming in from out of town,” Jurisic said. “It’s looking like 46 percent are local to Las Vegas, 48 percent are domestic U.S. traveling and six percent international.”

Of the 5,500 current registered runners, 2,500 are signed up for the marathon distance. Jurisic says the course layout and coming to Las Vegas for the weekend is drawing a lot of competitors.

“What really makes the course attractive is the fact that it’s downhill,” he said. “You start at a much greater elevation and it’s 2,299 feet of elevation loss during the marathon, which is perfect for runners looking for a PR. Every single Boston qualifying race goes through the United States Association of Track and Field, so they will measure and certify the course to make sure it checks out to be a Boston qualifying event.”

While all parties involved expect a successful race, the future of the event depends partly on how the inaugural race goes. Jurisic says they have a five-year contract for the Red Rock Canyon portion, in addition to a two-year partnership with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The rest will all fall into place.

“The goal is that this will forever live as the Las Vegas Marathon and that it becomes a staple event for the city,” Jurisic said. “We’re hoping that everybody’s sentiments are the same as ours when it comes to continuing the event for many years.”