Back in March of 2020, when the Town of Wellfleet decided there would be no events of any kind on town property for the duration of the year, the staff of New England Endurance Events quickly worked together to set up a virtual option for the Wellfleet Sprint Triathlon. We called it “Tri It Your Way.” Like many of you, we hoped this super-socially-distanced virtual tri would be a “one and done,” and that we would be racing by mid-June!

As the months wore on and as we consulted with officials of the communities and venues where our races were to be held, we realized that Tri It Your Way might just become the centerpiece of our summer race season. Time to turn lemons into lemonade!

So, a week after the Wellfleet virtual race, a Tri It your Way for Hyannis 1 was held. Then Falmouth. Then Hyannis 2.Emails and letters started pouring in from athletes, with results and photos.

And something very interesting happened. Athletes were telling us that Tri It Your Way was exactly what they needed to get through a summer like no other. While we were swimming, and biking, and running, they knew that others were doing their disciplines as well, near and far. Although we were physically distant, we were socially connected through our posts on social media and through the emails and pictures that flooded our inbox.

It was our newest member of the New England Endurance team who had come up with a terrific idea: with so few opportunities for swim training, why not allow athletes to replace their Tri It Your Way swimming segment with something else? And so began the most imaginative and unusual efforts to complete a triathlon that you could imagine. 10 minutes of jumping on a trampoline. Dog-petting. Mowing the lawn. Paddleboarding and hiking. Even frisbee.

For us, the best part of hosting these virtual triathlons was seeing all the smiles — not only of athletes but also of the family members, friends and kids who did the event along with them. It was so obvious that everyone was having fun, which is really what amateur sport is all about.

We knew we couldn’t replicate the energy and competition of being together on race day, but this summer tri series fostered community spirit and renewed our love of triathlon. We hope that if you participated, you felt that too. Thank you for being a part of our tri community. There is one last opportunity to have some fun and race virtually…with our current “Build the Base” event. Register here.

Here are some more from athletes’ submitted proofs of performance…wish we could show them all!