The roads are open.
The bikes are put away.
Louise Hays Park is suddenly quiet.
The 10th running, biking and swimming of the Kerrville Triathlon Festival is complete. The results are in — there will be, barring another pandemic, another triathlon in 2022.
"We have a really good working relationship with the city of Kerrville and Kerr County," said William Dyson, communications director for High Five Events, the Austin-based production company that organizes the two-day festival. "Those relationships are very well established, and we work closely together to ensure events like this can take place."
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The two-day festival helped fill up hotel rooms, camps sites and short-term rentals. There were no hotel rooms available across Kerrville on Friday and Saturday. The economic impact is still to be determined, but it was clear the festival made its mark.
"We had to move some of our staff out of Inn of the Hills and to the Y.O. Ranch Hotel because it was so full," Dyson said of Inn of the Hills, which is the area's second-largest hotel and has been the triathlon's headquarters since its inception in 2011.
The organizers predicted record participation, but the overall number of finishers was 1,364 people, according to the event's website. Regardless, it was the third-largest field in the event's 10-year history.
Competitors from Austin made up 25% of the field. There were a handful of competitors from outside of Texas, but this was mostly an in-state affair. Increasingly, folks from the Hill Country competed as well. On Saturday, 37 people from Kerrville competed in the sprint event, while three men braved the grueling half triathlon and 15 competed in the quarter triathlon.
Matthew Riordan had the best Kerrville finish in the quarter triathlon, finishing in two hours, 52 minutes, which was good for 128th overall. Douglas McPherson won the men's 65-69 age group, while Celeste Hamman won the women's 65-69 division.
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