GOOD TRI: Dana Palumbo handles her bike in the transition area at the first annual Princeton Triathlon last Saturday. Palumbo, 43, of Marlton, N.J. placed first overall in the SuperSprint Triathlon division at the event. She posted a winning chip time of 28:23.88 over the course which included a 300-meter swim in the Community Park Pool allowed by a 5-mile bike ride around Moore Street and a 1.5 mile run in and around the CP area. (Photo by Allison Brooks)
By Bill Alden
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again is a classic proverb meant to inspire persistence.
Those words could serve as an appropriate motto for Shawn Elwood and the Princeton High Triathlon Club.
In 2023, Elwood, now a PHS junior, and the student members and adult advisors of the club decided they wanted to stage a triathlon in Princeton.
After not procuring a permit from the Princeton Council in 2024 to hold the event, the club went back to the drawing board.
“I think the first year maybe we were a little ambitious,” said Elwood, noting that the planning group included his father, Doug, and his younger brother, Darren, along with Braedyn Capone, Tyler Cenci, Harrison Knoch, and Patrick Remboski. “The main thing was the road closures for the bike course. The second year we took another look at the course. We shrunk it down a little. We made it into a SuperSprint triathlon versus a normal sprint triathlon.”
The club got the go-ahead from the town earlier this year and last Saturday, that goal became a reality as the first annual Princeton Triathlon took place. The event started with a 300-meter swim in the Community Park Pool followed by a 5-mile bike ride around Moore Street and a 1.5 mile run in and around the CP area.
In addition to the SuperSprint triathlon, there was SuperSprint triathlon relay, duathlon, and aquabike which were all for ages 13-and-above along with a youth triathlon event for those ages 7-12.
The SuperSprint triathlon had 134 finishers and nearly 240 people overall took part in the day’s activities. The overall winner of the SuperSprint was Dana Palumbo, 43 of Marlton, N.J., in a chip time of 28:23.88 while the top male finisher was David Linder, 50, from West Chester, Pa. in 28:43.25.
For Elwood, seeing the club’s vision become a reality triggered pride and emotion.
“It was a very positive experience; what makes me think that is that we got so much positive feedback from the participants, the spectators and the volunteers, everyone,” said Elwood. “It was really great, it was such a surreal experience to see all of things work and come together. There was so much community support and involvement.”
That community support helped Elwood and his colleagues pull off the event.
“Going into it the second year we had a lot more support from the Rec Department and the Police Department and that all helped,” said Elwood. “The final push was with the Town Council. The Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad offered their services. We had a dedicated EMS vehicle out on the race course. We had reached out to DQ Events, the timing company. We had connections with them before with the club. We are very thankful.”
Once the group got the go-ahead, a major focus was on marketing the event.
“First of all, it was getting the word out, it is a first-year event; there is a Princeton 5K, there is a half marathon but other than that there wasn’t too much of a participant base in the area,” said Elwood, noting that the event ended up drawing entrants from New York, Pennsylvania, and even Arizona. “We had to push pretty hard on marketing. We had the signs in town and we did a ton online.”
Another key in running the triathlon was putting together a volunteer crew to deal with complicated logistics of the event.
“One other challenge was planning for race day with the whole volunteer plan,” explained Elwood, whose colleagues on the planning team served as venue directors for the 30-40 volunteers. “Different things are happening all across the bike course and the run. We had a few different waves of volunteers, starting at 4 in the morning. We gave each of them a little sheet of paper with some instructions which sent them around to the different stations and he different disciplines.”
Remboski, the faculty liaison for the triathlon club who teaches at Princeton Middle School and is a boys’ soccer and girls’ swimming coach at PHS, provided some key support in making the event happen.
“I was there, I was the link between the school and the triathlon club,” said Remboski. “I was giving my expertise on triathlons that I had been involved in. It was just being there for whatever they needed. I met with Shawn, we went to the town together. Sean and Doug Elwood really spearheaded this thing. Doug is a really brilliant guy. We could not have done it without him and his guidance.”
Remboski noted that the group got crucial financial support as well.
“As soon as we got the go-ahead, one of the biggest things was the funding through sponsorships and partnerships,” said Remboski. “We could not have done it without those sponsors and partnerships that we had and all of the donations. We had the plan set where we got the approval. After that it was executing it and getting the funding.”
With rain in the forecast for Saturday morning, there were some nervous moments as the planning committee and volunteers set up the course. The rain held off and the event went smoothly.
“We were really fortunate with the weather, that was out of our control so that was pretty stressful but the day was a huge success,” said Remboski. “We were in Princeton the night before until like 11:30 and then we all met up at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday so there was no rest that Friday and Saturday. It was a ton of family and friends that came out to help and students from PHS. It was a great way to get some community service.”
Remboski saw the turnout of participants as a great sign going forward.
“The total was 237, I think it was just the right amount,” said Remboski. “We were going to push for 300 but we wanted get the first one under our belts and make sure we got things going smoothly and that there were no big hiccups. So that way when we plan again for next year, we have more of a buy-in.”
For Remboski, being part of the push to hold the triathlon was heartening.
“It was incredible to see, this thing was basically put on by a group of high schoolers,” said Remboski. “There is not many places like Princeton where motivated high schoolers can put on a massive event like this and have success and be profitable where we can donate the profit to Princeton multi-sport. I was in awe and I was truly honored just to be part of it alongside the triathlon club who was ultimately responsible for everything that happened.”
For Elwood, it was awesome to see how ‘keep trying’ paid off last Saturday.
“It means the world,” said Elwood. “We were deep in planning this for so long. We had so many hurdles that we had to jump over.”
After the successful debut, the triathlon club is already planning for year two.
“We are trying to get some feedback from all of the participants on things they enjoyed and maybe some things they would like to see changed for next year,” said Remboski. “The plan is to make it an annual thing like the Turkey Trot, the Princeton Half Marathon and the Princeton 5K. We have already been brainstorming some ways where we can make it larger without taking up more roads and closing down roads.”