{"id":802000,"date":"2026-05-17T03:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/802000\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T03:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:29:16","slug":"cheering-on-the-competitors-family-friends-support-ironman-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/802000\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheering on the competitors: Family &#038; friends support Ironman athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 More than 1,900 athletes from around the world raced through Jacksonville on Saturday in the city\u2019s first-ever Ironman triathlon, covering 140.6 miles of swimming, biking, and running.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Competitors from 39 countries and 49 states took on the course, starting with a swim in the St. Johns River, transitioning to a 112-mile bike ride through Jacksonville, Nocatee, and Ponte Vedra, and finishing with marathon that looped through downtown and Riverside.<\/p>\n<p>Athletes traveled the globe for the race<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">For many competitors, the Ironman is as much about the journey as the finish line. Erica Parriott or New Jersey was competing in her 11th Ironman, and said the race brought her to places she never expected to visit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s one of the things I love about Ironman \u2014 it gets me to places I never would\u2019ve gone to before,\u201d Parriott said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing out on course. If you ever start struggling, there\u2019s always someone coming up behind you, cheering you on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Other athletes said their goal was simple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cFinishing,\u201d one athlete said when asked what they were looking forward to most.<\/p>\n<p>Families lined the course with signs and cheers<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The athletes were not alone. Family members and friends lined the course at each stop, cheering them on across all 140.6 miles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Jones family came out to support husband and father Mike, who was competing in his first Ironman. His children made signs and waited eagerly along the route.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019re really excited,\u201d a family member said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Another mother watching her son race had a simple message: \u201cKeep going, buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 More than 1,900 athletes from around the world raced through Jacksonville on Saturday in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":799379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8314,3188,723,182481,7310,144128,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-802000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-duval-county","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-ironman","tag-jacksonville","tag-triathlon","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}