The Freeport News :  The Grand Bahama Conchman Triathlon will be celebrating its 25th year on Saturday, as hundreds are expected to gather at Taino Beach for the race that has become known not just nationally, but internationally.

Also, Saturday's race will feature the 21st edition of the Iron Kids race, which allows kids to also show off their stamina and physical prowess.

Both races will take place on Saturday, November 5, beginning at 8 a.m. at Taino Beach.

The Conchman will feature a half mile swim, a 15 mile bike race and a 5K run. The iron kids race will begin at noon on Saturday.

Thus far, no one has broken the record set by David Bell of an hour and three minutes.

Registration for both events begins today at the Pelican Bay Hotel, between 5:30 - 7 p.m.

Registration will also be held on Friday at the Pelican Bay Resort, with a special meeting for all registered competitors at 7 p.m. at the Pelican Bay.

"Registration forms for the Iron Kids have been slow in coming in, so we want to encourage parents to get their kids registered for the Iron Kids race," said Race co-ordinator, Bert Bell.

"Parents can also sign up on-line at www.conchman.com"

The Conchman, over the years, has attracted hundreds of competitors from Grand Bahama, Nassau, other Family Islands as well as from overseas.

In fact, it was a U.S. competitor who won last year's male overall title.

The event has become popular among endurance competitors throughout the United States.

Last year saw one of the largest offshore contingents the Conchman has seen in a long time.

However, this year, thus far, Bell said that he's had a number of international competitors pull out of the race, because of the cost to have their bikes transported here to Grand Bahama. He said that he's had a lot of complaints about the cost of putting their bikes on the plane, and thus many have decided not to attend the race this year.

"I'm trying to see if we can rent some bikes from here, but finding a decent race bike in Grand Bahama may be almost impossible, because the only ones on the island are owned by cyclists who compete and so the issue is having access to those bicycles.

"The bicycles we will get may be mountain bikes and not necessarily race bikes.

"But I spoke with someone in Nassau and advised them to put their bikes on the Fiesta Mailboat, which would be much cheaper and I can pick them up from the boat and drop them off to the boat once the race is finished. It costs less to send a bike by boat than it would be to rent one."

Bell said that they have more than 50 individual entrants thus far for the Conchman, and we're expecting more to come in over the next couple of days, especially from Grand Bahama residents. In fact, Bell is encouraging local competitors to sign up at Pelican Bay before Friday.

"We really have a lot of help coming from the Jack Hayward high school as volunteers of the Governor General Youth Award program," noted Bell.

"I think we will have some 55 young people marshaling the course onSaturday. In addition to that, we have a number of people who come out and help this event every single year, and to them we're grateful."

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