For the past 25 years, the Virginia Ten Miler, held in late September, has become a fall tradition in Lynchburg, as synonymous with the city as its seven hills.

Starting this year, area runners and triathletes looking for a similar showcase race to enter in the spring won’t have to travel out of town to do it – and they’ll be running, swimming, and cycling for a good cause.

The inaugural Angels Race, which will feature a 300-meter swim leg, a 25-kilometer cycling stage and a 5K run, will take place on Sunday, April 27, starting at the downtown YMCA.

Mick Gunter, David Broman and Geb Broman, in conjunction with various other volunteers and the Lynchburg Parks and Recreation Department, took the initiative to organize the mini-triathlon in Lynchburg as a memorial charity event for three local beneficiaries.

The Broman brothers are uncles of Brittany Groover, a student at Jefferson Forest who was killed in a traffic accident last Nov. 12. Gunter, a triathlete from Greensboro, NC, is the son of Karla Bowen, a Virginia elementary school teacher killed in a traffic accident on Dec. 3, 1989.

“It gives the Lynchburg downtown a spring event to go alog with the Ten Miler in the fall,” said Geb Broman, a cyclist originally from Culpeper who moved from Florida back to Forest in late March. “It should be a boon for the downtown area.”

Broman, whose brother, David, is a marathon runner from Fredericksburg, said he will work with the Lynchburg Chamber Of Commerce to try to coordinate the event with an annual spring festival or show in the downtown area.

“That would help it to become a pretty attractive event,” Geb Broman said.

The race is intended to attract local and regional triathletes, as well as high school and collegiate athletes. Relay teams are encouraged.

“One of the groups we are trying to draw in is kids,” Geb Broman said. “You don’t need to be a hardened triathlete to enter.”

The event is being organized as a way to honor Groover and Bolen, and as a venue for participants to honor their lost loved ones.

The three organizations to benefit from the triathlon’s fundraising efforts are the Brittany Groover Memorial Scholarship Fund, which will provide assistance to underprivileged high school seniors, and to middle school and senior high school students who wish to attend summer church camps or conferences; the Karla Bolen Foundation, which will provide assistance to teachers to enhance learning possibilities not supported by their school budget and the Lynchburg area YMCA, which will receive a donation honoring local athletes who have died in recent years.

“It’s 100 percent charity and we expect to do this every year,” Geb Broman said.

The event has a registration limit of 300 participats, but Broman doesn’t expect that many to come out the first year.

“We would hope to get 125 this year,” he said. “Our goal is to break even this year and then next year (turn a fundraising profit). We have no headline sponsor right now but by next year, hopefully, we’ll get a few big-name sponsors.”

Besides Gunter and the Bromans, Suzanne Edmonds, Tanya Gunter, Dudley Raines and Van and Catherine Phillips of Bikes Unlimited and Riverside Runners, respectively, and others are working together to get the event off and running.

Following the six-lap pool swim, the cycling course will start and end at the YMCA and will travel along scenic River Road on the Amherst County side of the James River. The final stage of the event , the run, will also start at the YMCA and follow a section of the Blackwater Creek Trail before finishing on Commerce Street.

“We’re keeping the transition areas at the YMCA,” Geb Broman said.

The race is a USA Triathlon-sanctioned event with prizes and T-shirts awarded and $5 million worth of insurance provided through USA Triathlon. The entry fee is $40 for individuals and $75 for a relay team made up of USA Triathlon members with an additional charge of $9 for non-members to cover insurance costs.

Interested participants and sponsors may visit the event’s website at www.angelsrace.org, drop by Bikes Unlimited for a registration form or contact Get Broman at (434} 832-3821 for more information.