Sunday’s fourth annual Angels Race Triathlon in downtown Lynchburg reached its 400-athlete limit for the first time – a week and a half before the day of the event.

Including the 40 relay teams on hand, a total of 500 swimmers, cyclists and runners participated in at least a leg of the sprint triathlon, which features a staggered start 300-meter swim in the YMCA pool, a 25-kilometer bike ride along River Road and a 5K run on the Blackwater Creek Bikeway.

More than 30 companies supported the race financially, with funds going to the Brittany Groover Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Karla Bolen Memorial Fund.

“It’s evolved into much more than we thought it would,” co-race founder Tim Groover said. “The race really has shown up on the map with people coming from out of town and as far away as Texas, Florida and Connecticut.”

A common thread united the triathletes, many of whom competed in memory of a lost loved one, whose name they wrote on their body or photo they wore on a race day T-shirt or button.

“Everybody is really proud to be there and it’s a big accomplishment to finish the race,” said Randolph-Macon Woman’s College swim coach Donna Hodgert, who ran in her fourth straight event and placed third among women in 1 hour, 17 minutes, 6 seconds. “You really see the passion. Something is pushing them more than the competition.”

Major David Rozelle, a U.S. Army Gulf War lower-leg amputee, swam, cycled and ran for all of the service men and women who have died in the war in Iraq.

Susan Gower, 43, of Cape Coral, Fla., finished her first traithlon in 2:00”11 with five or six names written on her arm, including that of her brother.

It was absolutely wonderful, very inspirational, and I plan to come back next year,” she said.

Groover helped start the race in the spring of 2003, just five months after his daughter Brittany, a student at Jefferson Forest, died in an automobile accident outside of Forest Middle School.

Each year, his brother John Groover travels from Austin, Texas, to join in the race. This year his nephew Jake, a freshman at Virginia Tech, competed in it for the first time and other family came in from Indiana and Northern Virginia.

“We treat it as almost a mini family reunion,” Tim Groover said.

Trey Tanner of Lynchburg had an unexpected father-daughter reunion on the race’s final running leg. After training for the triathlon for months, he was eager to improve on his time from last year. However, five miles into his 25K bike stage, his derailleur broke.

Tanner was pretty disappointed, as he waited for mechanical support and a single gear replacement bike to complete the cycling trek. But he crossed the finish line holding the hand of his little daughter Kylie and couldn’t have been happier.

Lexy Phillips of Forest, 10, was the youngest individual to complete all three stages of the race, finishing in 2:09:58.

Paul Gantzer, 39, of Shawsville was the over-all winner in 1:04:35, breaking the course record by 42 seconds, and Shannon Summerlin, 34, of Roanoke was the women’s winner in 1:11:32.

The first-place relay team, representing Riverside Runners, featured R-MWC swimmer Kim Edmonds, cyclist Chad Davis and Chris Pluchos, who did the running leg. They completed the race in 1:02:20, breaking the relay record by 3:32.

James Madison University had the most entrants of any college with 25 and won the College Challenge, ending Virginia Tech’s three-year reign.

“They wre pretty excited about that,” Groover said. “They (the college athletes) generate a lot of enthusiasm.”

Groover is grateful for the enthusiastic support of the volunteers who helped the race run as smoothly as possible while cheering the triathletes on to the finish line.

“Lynchburg and the surrounding area is a pretty special place,” he said. “We have a very large number of people who get it – they understand what the race is about and want to be supportive of it. Participants who come from outside of the Lynchburg area comment that the volunteer support and encouragement they receive here is far and away better than at any other race.”

For the second straight year, race directors Groover and Mick Gunter, the son of Bolen who died in 1989, enlisted the services of Set-Up, Inc. That group handled logistical challenges such as setting up the bike racks at the transition station, laying out the course and working the computerized chip timing system.

“They do a good job of putting these races on,” Groover said. “Their forte is triathlons. They allow us to focus on the feel of the event.”

Groover encourages those who want to be sure to get into next year’s Angels Race, which serves as the first event of the Virginia Triathlon Series, to register early. Before then, they can travel to the second annual Angels Race Triathlon in Winston-Salem, NC, on Sept. 17. Directed by Gunter, that is the final race in the North Carolina Endurance Series.