The triathletes spent all day Saturday swimming, cycling and running 140.6 miles to the finish line in Riverfront Plaza.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A day spent swimming, running and cycling to the finish line.
Hundreds of triathletes completed the grueling journey and earned their Ironman medals at Riverfront Plaza.
The first ever Ironman Jacksonville took a moment to share what it was like busting through the tape.
“You keep coming back because you’re always looking for the perfect race, which will never happen, but we keep going for it,” said Pedro Gomes after crossing the finish line.
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Gomes may never run what he’d consider the perfect Ironman, but Saturday, he was more perfect than anyone else as the 42-year-old from Portugal became the first Ironman in Jacksonville history, completing the 140.6 mile triathlon in about eight and a half hours.
“I kept saying to myself, that I could do this,” said Gomes.
Gomes says his first time in Jacksonville was for his 47th Ironman.
“This one was a lot better than the average just because the road is so smooth on the bike,” said Gomes.
He did note a few areas where the course could be improved.
“The swim was hard to navigate,” said Gomes. “We couldn’t really see where we were going. The run was a little harder than I thought because there were quite a few overpasses.”
He wasn’t the only one who ran into a few obstacles, as First Coast News fielded constant phone calls from drivers stuck on the Southside waiting for a chance to pass through the course.
“We’re letting the bikers go through,” said one driver stuck near University Boulevard. “Traffic has been backed up for at least two hours.”
“The traffic has been horrendous, I’ve been sitting in the car for about an hour and a half now,” added another driver. “It’s been pretty ridiculous.”
Jacksonville is set to host at least two more Ironman triathlons, so Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan says they’ll have a debriefing with feedback from the athletes and city leaders on areas to improve.
“We can always do better,” said Deegan. “We’ll have a debrief after this to try to figure out where we could have had better communication, but I will tell you, we’ve been trying to communicate this for a long time. I know it’s an inconvenience for one day, but just think about the benefit to the city.”
She won’t have to look too far for some input, as Jacksonville City Council Member Raul Arias took on his first Ironman and can share what his 140.6 mile experience was like.
“Crossing that line, hearing my name mentioned, it was just a surreal experience,” said Arias shortly after finishing his first Ironman.