An article written by Vancouver Sun’s Gary Kingston and published Saturday April 05, 2008

As a city often characterized as being populated more by doers than watchers, it’s highly unlikely Vancouver will this June match the 600,000 who watched the 2007 triathlon world championships in Hamburg, Germany. But organizers of the 2008 worlds, which will attract 3,000-plus athletes in elite, junior, age-group and athletes with disabilities categories June 5-8, think it’s not unreasonable to expect more than 100,000 to be in the West End on the Sunday for the men’s and women’s races in the swim-bike-run discipline.

“Given the West End [location], given the advertising we’re doing, given the exposure of the sport, we’re talking in the hundreds of thousands here,” says Philip Davis, the organizing committee’s vice-president and director of operations.

“I think we can get that much. I know what you say about Europe [being a different culture in terms of people lining streets or ski hills], but there are a bunch of things playing into it.

“It’s a pre-cursor to the Beijing Olympics, it’s the biggest sporting event in Vancouver before 2010 . . . and given they can stroll from Yaletown to English Bay and watch a world-class event, you’re going to have a catchment rate that’s going to be exceptional.”

City council approved the courses on Thursday.

While the elite and junior circuits will just dip into part of Stanley Park off Beach Avenue, the age-group sprint and Olympic distance races on Friday, as well as the corporate challenge on Saturday, will use all of Stanley Park Drive for the bike course.

That will necessitate closing off road access to the park, likely until 11 a.m., on those days, although the public will still be able to walk or cycle into the park at any time. The Seawall will also remain open.

Paula Kim of the North Vancouver-based International Triathlon Union, said organizers are working closely with stakeholders, including the Vancouver Aquarium.

“They had a huge concern that they would lose out on business. But we see it as an opportunity for them, having direct access to 3,000 athletes and 10,000 out-of-towners and we’re going to do our best to drive business to them. We’ve included them in everything and our press conferences and athlete briefings will be held at the aquarium.”

Simon Whitfield of Victoria, the gold medallist when triathlon made its Olympic debut in 2000 at Sydney, won a World Cup race in the West End last summer.

That course has been altered for the 2008 worlds, mostly to provide better spectator viewing. In 2007, the 1,500-metre swim went from English Bay to Second Beach where the athletes then ran up the hill to a transition area in the parking lot.

At worlds, the athletes will do a return-point swim out of English Bay, making one 1,000-metre lap and then a 500-metre loop.

“They actually exit the water between loops and you get the whole jostling for position,” said Davis at a news conference Friday at Prospect Point. “They’ll ran back onto the beach, around a pylon and then fight each other for entry to the water again.”

The women’s race will start at 1 p.m. and the men at 4 p.m.