RESTON TRIATHLON HISTORY

The Reston Triathlon Course
by Rick Uhrig


Over the years the each leg of the course has gone through changes. While the greatest change has been on the bike course, the swim and run have also seen change as well.

Swim Course

The swim course has as always been in Lake Audubon, starting at the boat ramp located on Twin Branches Road at Lake Thoreau Pool. The swim is essentially an out and back course, swimming from the boat ramp generally in a WSW direction for about ½ mile along a rope line, then returning to the boat ramp

There have been slight variations. Initially the swim course was clockwise, with the rope line to the swimmer's right, favoring right side breathers. However, in 1985 this created a severe traffic jam at the swim start at the concrete drain, so in 1986 the course was changed to counterclockwise with the rope line on the left, as it has remained ever since.

Several participants remember that the swim course was noticeably short one year, and estimate that the true distance that year was only 9/10 of a mile. 1986 is the year most often remembered for the short swim course.

Bike Course

The bike leg has always started at Lake Audubon, finished in back of South Lakes High School, and consisted of a multiple loop course over portions of Twin Branches Drive, South Lakes Drive, Lawyers Road, Reston Parkway (originally called Reston Avenue) Colts Neck Road and Glade Drive.

There have been 3 different major versions of the bike course, with several minor variations.
The major versions are:

  #   Years Description
1 1984 22.1 miles, 2 loop course, starting left on Twin Branches
2 1985-1994 23.8 miles, 1¾ loop course, starting left on Twin Branches
3 1995- 22.5 miles, 3 loop course, starting right on Twin Branches

There are minor variations with how the bike leg finished.

The most common finish is turning from South Lakes onto Ridge Heights, then left onto Seahawk Drive and right into the parking lot transition area. (The map from 1985 shows this finish.) The alternate finish, used at least once, bypasses Ridge Heights. Turn from South Lakes onto Seahawk Drive and left into the parking lot transition area. (The cue sheet from 1985 shows this finish.)

Also, the parking lot originally used for the bike-run transition area is now occupied with trailers, so the transition area was moved to nearby basketball courts.

Bike Course #1: 1984

The 1984 bike course covered approximately 22.1 miles, beginning with a left turn out of the transition area at Lake Audubon onto Twin Branches for two 10.5 mile loops, and proceeding as shown in the cue sheet on the left.

After the 2nd loop, a left turn was made at the end of Twin Branches onto South Lakes Drive, to head to SLHS and the bike-run transition area.

The most remembered feature is the monster hill on Hunter Station Road.

1984 Bike Course (Distances estimated with Google Maps) 0.0 L Twin Branches Road 0.4 R South Lakes Drive 0.7 R Sunrise Valley Drive becomes Hunter Mill Road 2.6 R Hunter Station Road 3.6 R Lawyers Road 6.7 R Reston Avenue 7.0 R Colts Neck Road 7.8 R Glade Drive 10.3 L Twin Branches Road 10.8 R South Lakes Drive 11.1 R Sunrise Valley Drive becomes Hunter Mill Road 13.0 R Hunter Station Road 14.0 R Lawyers Road 17.1 R Reston Avenue 17.4 R Colts Neck Road 18.2 R Glade Drive 20.7 L Twin Branches Road 21.2 L South Lakes Drive 21.5 R Ridge Heights Drive 21.8 L Seahawk Drive 22.0 R Parking lot at SLHS 22.1 Dismount

Bike Course #2: 1985 to 1994

For the next decade the bike course was about 1¾ miles longer, for a total of 23.8 miles. This resulted from two "enhancements" over the original 1984 course.

  • Adding Old Field Drive and Post Oak Trail to the loop
  • Leaving Glade on the 2nd loop for a different finish on Soapstone, Sunrise Valley and South Lakes

    The cue sheet dated 1985 shows a variation of the finish:

    1985 to 1994 Bike Course (Distances estimated with Google Maps) 0.0 L Twin Branches Road 0.4 R South Lakes Drive 0.7 R Sunrise Valley Drive 1.3 R Old Field Drive 1.7 L Post Oak Trail 1.8 R Sunrise Valley Drive becomes Hunter Mill Road 2.9 R Hunter Station Road 3.9 R Lawyers Road 7.0 R Reston Avenue 7.3 R Colts Neck Road 8.1 R Glade Drive 10.6 L Twin Branches Road 11.1 R South Lakes Drive 11.4 R Sunrise Valley Drive 12.0 R Old Field Drive 12.4 L Post Oak Trail 12.5 R Sunrise Valley Drive becomes Hunter Mill Road 13.6 R Hunter Station Road 14.6 R Lawyers Road 17.7 R Reston Avenue 18.0 R Colts Neck Road 18.8 R Glade Drive 20.1 L Soapstone Drive 21.6 R Sunrise Valley Drive 22.6 R South Lakes Drive 23.2 R Ridge Heights Drive 23.5 L Seahawk Drive 23.7 R Parking lot at SLHS 23.8 Dismount,

    Bike Course #3: 1995 to Present

    1995 was the big change for the bike course. Hunter Station Hill was dropped, the loop was shortened, the number of times around the loop was increased from 2 to 3, and the total distance of the bike leg was reduced to about 22.5 miles

    Other changes included turning the "wrong way" upon leaving the parking lot and entering Twin Branches; travelling in the "wrong direction" on Twin Branches and Glade and using completely different portions of Soapstone and South Lakes.

    This course is not only shorter, but also much flatter. The five steepest uphill grades (2x Hunter Station, 2x Twin Branches, and 1x Soapstone) were all dropped. In 1995 there was widespread consensus that this course was about 10 minutes faster than the bike course from 1985-1994..

    1995 to Present Bike Course (Distances estimated with Google Maps) 0.0 R Twin Branches Road 0.2 R Glade Drive 1.4 L Soapstone Drive 1.8 R Lawyers Road 3.3 R Reston Parkway 3.7 R Colts Neck Road 5.1 R South Lakes Drive 7.2 R Twin Branches Road 7.7 R Glade Drive 8.9 L Soapstone Drive 9.3 R Lawyers Road 10.8 R Reston Parkway 11.2 R Colts Neck Road 12.6 R South Lakes Drive 14.7 R Twin Branches Road 15.2 R Glade Drive 16.4 L Soapstone Drive 16.8 R Lawyers Road 18.3 R Reston Parkway 18.7 R Colts Neck Road 20.1 R South Lakes Drive 21.9 L Ridge Heights Drive 22.2 L Seahawk Drive 22.4 R Parking lot at SLHS Dismount

    Run Course

    The run course begins at the back of SLHS at the bike-run transition, runs along Reston's trail system in a largely out and back course, and finishes on the South Lakes track.

    Except for the relocation of the bike-run transition area, there has been very little variation to this segment of the race.