YMCA Wrightsville Beach Sprint Triathlon

About the Event

Founded in 1979, as the Pepsi Triathlon, the YMCA Wrightsville Beach Sprint Triathlon is a favorite event among locals and triathletes near and far. This event creates a lot of excitement and enthusiasm within the race community because of its scenic location in beautiful Wrightsville Beach. The course is flat and the distances are short, making it a great first event for new triathletes, and a great time trial for more experienced racers.

In recent years, the YMCA has added a Youth Triathlon event in addition to the traditional Sprint Triathlon, increasing the participation in younger athletes. The Y has also added a Corporate Relay Division to encourage local businesses to come out and compete for a very large trophy to display in their business, not to mention bragging rights for the year!

Today the event is comprised of the traditional sprint triathlon and a youth triathlon, increasing the participation in younger athletes. We've also introduced a corporate relay division to encourage businesses to come out and compete for a very large trophy to display in their office, not to mention bragging rights for the year!

Race History

The YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina's Wrightsville Beach Sprint Triathlon first held in 1979, was the brainchild of Karl Sutter, a then resident of Wrightsville Beach. Karl was competitive by nature and had been college swimmer. A few years after college, Karl had taken up running to get back in shape, and one day sprained his ankle and then turned to cycling as an outlet for fitness while his injury healed. When reading Sports Illustrated in the spring of ‘79 he noticed a small article about the first Ironman triathlon with it’s 12 participants that was held in Hawaii the prior fall. Karl approached the local YMCA which was under the direction of Jack Morris at the time, and a new event for the area was born. This triathlon originally named the Pepsi YMCA Triathlon would become the first and longest running triathlon on the east coast of the US with its start of 99 participants that September, 1979.

Races Offered

Individual

Sep 26, 2026

straighten

Distance — Individual

terrain

Type — —

timer

06:50

sell

$90.00

Relay

Sep 26, 2026

straighten

Distance — Relay

terrain

Type — —

timer

06:50

sell

$120.00

Aquabike

Sep 26, 2026

straighten

Distance — Aquabike

terrain

Type — —

timer

07:00

sell

$65.00

Youth Triathlon

Sep 26, 2026

straighten

Distance — Youth Triathlon

terrain

Type — —

timer

07:30

sell

$55.00

Weather History

These values represent the 3-year monthly averages for September in Wrightsville Beach.

thermostat Temperature

19.9° / 27.3°

wb_sunny Feels like

20.1° / 28.2°

light_mode Avg sunshine hours

9h 30m

water_drop Avg rainfall

6.4 mm

ac_unit Avg snowfall

—

air Avg wind speed

12.9 km/h (Gentle breeze)

opacity Sweat loss rate

High

terrain Course conditions

Hard and dry surface

sunny Max UV Index

Moderate (5.0)

humidity_mid Humidity

78.4%

wb_twilight Sunrise

06:54

nightlight Sunset

19:16

About Wrightsville Beach

Learn more about the host city, Wrightsville Beach.

Wrightsville Beach is a town in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. Wrightsville Beach is just east of Wilmington and is part of the Wilmington metropolitan area. The population was 2,473 at the 2020 census. The town consists of a 4-mile (6 km) long beach island, an interior island called Harbor Island, and pockets of commercial property on the mainland. It served as a filming location of Dawson's Creek. The movie Weekend at Bernie's was also partially filmed in Wrightsville Beach.