Twenty-year-old Andre Lapar of Glen Cove led a field of nearly a thousand individual entrants and 109 teams in the 13th annual edition of the Seacrest-Tobay Triathlon held in Oyster Bay on Sunday morning, Aug. 20.

Lapar completed the 1 Kilometer swim in 11:23, leaving the water in Oyster Bay Harbor in seventh place, and was still only in fifth place at the end of the 15 Kilometer bike leg through Oyster Bay Cove and Laurel Hollow, but his 19:02 in the 5 Kilometer run to the Planting Fields Arboretum got him to the finish at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in a total time of 58 minutes 3 seconds, 16 seconds ahead of 18-year-old William Iaia of Colorado, and 23 seconds in front of 45-year-old John McLaughlin of Long Beach. Both McLaughlin and Iaia also made up lots of time in the run to pass the early leaders. 1998 and 1999 winner Fred Neinast of Belle Harbor was fifth this year in 58:50, and 32-year-old Kevin Dessart of Massapequa Park was the first finisher from the Town of Oyster Bay, crossing the line in 58:52, in seventh place overall.

Top female finisher was Donna McMahon of Farmingdale in 1:01:40. Donna moved from eighth place after the completion of the swim leg to first place in the bike leg, passing ultimate second place finisher Danielle Sullivan (1:03:27). Donna was the 1997 and 1998 winner of the Tobay Triathlon, but had to sit out the 1999 Triathlon with a broken toe.

Top finishers from Plainview-Old Bethpage included 13-year-old Matthew Descovich of Plainview, who scored first in the 14 and under age group, Odd Sangesland of Plainview, second-place finisher in the 70 and over age group in 1:47:58. Ken Pritchard of Plainview did the bike leg for the first-place team overall, Rich Ryan and Ed Melnik of Plainview did the swim and bike respectively for the men's combined age 105-139 second-place team, Danielle Rocks of Plainview was the swimmer on the co-ed team that took first-place honors in the under 60 age group team.

The Triathlon was conducted under the auspices of the Town of Oyster Bay, with financial assistance from the Seacrest Restaurant. It was managed by the Greater Long Island Running Club, with GLIRC's Steve Winkler serving once again as the director. David Katz of Finish Line Road Race Technicians was the technical director. The staff of the town's Department of Recreation and Parks, the staff at Roosevelt Beach, Buddy Winslow and the town's lifeguard staff, all made major contributions to the success of the event. The emergency medical team from the Oyster Bay Fire Company was once again on hand to assure the health and safety of the participants, and the Nassau County Police Department and the auxiliary police did a yeomanlike job of managing traffic out on the bike and run courses. More than a hundred volunteers from the Greater Long Island Running Club were part of the event. Proceeds of the Triathlon go to the Friends of the Bay, the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation, the ASPIRE Program for the Rehabilitation of young amputees and other worthwhile charities.

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto was among the dignitaries on hand at Roosevelt Park to welcome the athletes to the finish line, along with Town Councilman Len Symons (who was the runner on one of the 109 tri-relay teams), Town Councilwoman Bonnie Eisler and Town Councilman Joe Muscarella.

"We had a dramatic increase in the number of participants this year," observed Triathlon Director Steve Winkler. "That's a tribute both to the fact that triathlons have become even more popular than ever, and the fantastic support that recreational sports programs in general and this triathlon in particular receive from the Town of Oyster Bay. As Councilman Symons puts it, our town has become 'the recreational sports capital of the northeast,' and that's something we all can be proud of!"