City of Los Angeles Prepares for Sunday's 7th Annual Triathlon That Draws Triathletes from 28 States and Nine Countries; Street Closures in Effect on Sunday Morning from Venice Beach to Downtown Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES -- Nearly three thousand amateur and professional triathletes from 28 states and nine countries will swim, bike and run in the waters and roadways around the City of Los Angeles during the 7th Annual Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon Sunday morning, September 10, 2006. The men and women pros start in the first wave at 6:45 a.m. racing to the waters off Venice Beach for an Olympic distance .9 mile ocean swim, followed by a 24.8 mile bike course through Hollywood, and ending with a 6.2 mile run to the finish line at STAPLES Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Once the pros are out of the water, the amateur field will start in waves of approximately 150 competitors per wave every 10 minutes with the last wave going off at approximately 9:10 a.m. The Awards Ceremony is at 12 noon at Gilbert Lindsey Plaza, STAPLES Center.

The women's professional field is headlined by Australian Emma Snowsill, who made triathlon history on September 4 by becoming the first woman to win three world championship titles. Snowsill, who won LA in 2004, will be taking on Americans Becky Lavelle, the 2003 LA champ; Hawaii Ironman Champion and American great, Karen Smyers; and Julie Swail, who moved to the sport of triathlon after winning Olympic silver in water polo. The best challenger to this American group is 2006 Chicago Triathlon Champion Samantha McGlone, a Canadian.

Eight countries are represented in the largest men's LA field in five years. The strong Australian contingency is led by 2004 LA champ and 2006 Chicago winner Craig Alexander; 2006 Nautica New York champion Greg Bennett; Richie Cunningham, Stephen Hackett, and Joshua Rix, all seasoned pros. The Americans outnumber the Aussies, but most of the field will be first-time LA competitors and an American has never won this race. The men's field is rounded out by triathletes from Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and Canada.

The pro male and female champions will split $52,000 in prize money plus a $1,000 swim preme, and receive an automatic berth to the 2007 LifeTime Fitness Triathlon Series Championship, which will feature a $500,000 purse. Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series is the first-ever series to connect the four most prominent Olympic distance triathlon events in the United States -- New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Milwaukee -- and will offer a total prize purse of more than $1 million.

Street Closures -- http://trafficinfo.lacity.org

There are approximately 25 miles of street closures Sunday morning that start at Venice Beach and end Downtown. Streets will be opened by noon. Closures are implemented in waves moving from the Westside (Venice Blvd. east to Fairfax); north to Hollywood Blvd./101 Fwy.; on to 1st and Grand; and to the finish line at Gilbert Lindsey Plaza at STAPLES Center. Route and street closure maps, crossing points and other closure information can be found at http://trafficinfo.lacity.org or by calling the City's Dept. of Transportation at [phone].