At 6 a.m. on Sunday, athletes plunged into the water by Morro Rock to start the Ironman Triathlon.
“It feels amazing. I worked hard for this one and it feels really good to win,” Sebastian Radilla, first-place winner of the 2024 Morro Bay Ironman Triathlon said.
Radilla took first in the Ironman finishing several minutes ahead of second place.
“The race course is awesome. I've done all the 70.3s in California and this one is by far my favorite,” Radilla said.
Athletes swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles. Hundreds of athletes spent more than four hours racing and finished on Front Street near the Embarcadero.
“We're so lucky to have this as our home course because we get to train on this every day and everyone gets to come out and experience what we experience every day,” Oliver Pilon, a Cal Poly senior, said.
Pilon wrapped up his third Ironman ever on Sunday and says he was most prepared for biking the Morro Bay hills.
“There were a couple of guys I was riding with that were surprised by some of the hills and having ridden them hundreds of times I was very prepared for them,” Pilon said.
“Being able to know exactly where the hills are, how long they are, and distances between landmarks is so helpful,” Ryken Thompson, a Cal Poly student said.
Thompson shares what the course was like for him last year compared to this year.
“The swim was a lot tougher because of the current. I liked that the run went into the state park. It's just so much nicer only having to do two laps compared to the three we had to do last year. Mentally three laps is pretty tough,” Thompson said.
State Cannon Coats, from Washington State, has been training for about a year doing two workouts a day to prepare for his first Ironman Triathlon. The weather was the biggest surprise for him.
“It was raining here a little bit, but the elevation and the wind was kind of a surprise,” Coats said.
“It was my first time in Morro Bay and I loved it. I will be back next year for sure,” Radilla said.
