‘This community comes out’: Athletes, spectators relish Ironman 70.3 Happy Valley
On Sunday, athletes swam at Bald Eagle State Park, cycled up Nittany Summit and ran through Penn State’s Beaver Stadium at the Ironman 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley North American Championship.
Participants ranged in age from 18 to 80, with many amateurs hailing from in and around Centre County while some professionals traveled internationally for the 70.3-mile triathlon. Trevor Foley was the overall winner, with a time of 3 hours, 42 minutes and 25 seconds.
“I’m on cloud nine,” he said after crossing the finish line on Curtin Road.
Paula Findlay led the pro women at 4:14.02. Arthur Benson won the men’s amateur triathlon in 4:08:31, and Julia Day won the women’s amateur triathlon in 4:41:54.
Foley and Findlay were among the 80 professional athletes competing in this year’s Ironman 70.3 Happy Valley, one of 16 events in the Experience Oman Pro Series circuit and a North American Championship event. That means the stakes of this year’s Happy Valley triathlon were bigger than ever. Pros are vying for end-of-year honors such as the Pro Series Champion title, a share of the $1.7 million prize purse and a spot in the World Championship in France.
Others raced purely for love of the sport. Natalie Grabow, who, at 80, became the oldest woman ever to complete a full 140.6-mile Ironman last fall, just wanted to finish Sunday.
“I’m just grateful,” she said. “I never take it for granted that I can do this.”
For some, the triathlon was a homecoming.
“When I was here, I was young, dumb and broke,” said Jason West, a Penn State graduate who came in third.
“Now I come back and I’m married, have a child and living my dream,” he continued, his 1-year-old asleep in a stroller nearby.
The course, mostly unchanged from last year, included a 1.2-mile swim in Foster Sayers Reservoir at Bald Eagle State Park, a 56-mile ride through central Pennsylvania’s rolling hills and a 13.1-mile run on Penn State’s campus. Athletes represented 44 U.S. states and 43 countries, including New Zealand and Spain. The triathlon was broadcast on channels in China, Spain, Latin America, Caribbean Islands, France, Germany and South Africa.
Around 4 a.m. on Sunday, about 1,100 athletes and spectators piled into yellow school buses at Beaver Stadium and left for Bald Eagle State Park. On the way, athletes remained quiet.
“They’re getting in the zone,” said bus driver J.R. Florey. “I’d have to be in some sort of zone to jump in that cold water.”
At 6:50 a.m., the pro men kicked off the triathlon, staggering their starts. Pro women followed at 6:55 a.m., and amateurs started swimming 10 minutes later. Hundreds of spectators watched from the grass and sand, some slouched in lawn chairs, others straining from atop picnic tables for a good view.
“I’m excited to see them jump on their bikes and go,” said Jesse Beiler, who stood on the beach in a straw hat, a pair of binoculars around his neck.
At Transition 1, athletes strapped on their helmets, jogged barefoot with their bikes, mounted and began the 56-mile trek toward State College.
Cyclists passed horses, cows and children; scooters, tractors and buggies; churches, forest and farmland. Throughout the notoriously hilly course, cyclists climbed nearly 3,500 feet.
In Jacksonville, Corie Watson cheered with one child in her lap and another nearby. “It’s kind of a small, quiet town. Just something to look forward to,” she said. They planned to stay “until he’s tired,” Watson said of her son, who jumped, clapped and said “good job” to each passing bike.
Along the course, volunteers waved pom-poms, cowbells and signs while offering water, bananas and high-fives. Charitable groups that volunteer are eligible to earn a share of the Ironman Foundation Grant of more than $18,000, and about 1,000 volunteers are needed annually.
“This community comes out,” said Eric Engelbarts, president/CEO of Happy Valley Adventure Bureau.
Happy Valley hosted its first Ironman 70.3 in 2023, the start of a three-year contract between Ironman Group and Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. The first year drew more than 2,000 athletes. Numbers dropped in 2024 and, last year, just over 1,000 participated.
Numbers rebounded with the bigger stakes this year, as more than 1,600 signed up.
Engelbarts hopes the tradition will continue. “We’re right in the middle of those conversations,” he said.
Spectators swarmed the finish line outside Beaver Stadium. In the first two years of Ironman 70.3 Happy Valley, athletes finished on the 50-yard line. But construction pushed the finish line to Curtin Road at the two most recent triathlons.
“That was, I think, actually a really nice change,” said race director Josh Cone. In the stadium, athletes finished alone. On Curtin Road, many tumbled into loved ones.
Carole Simons stood near the finish, cheering for her husband with her daughter and son-in-law while her granddaughters, 3 and 5, danced and jumped with pom-poms.
“He has that little bounce in his step when he sees the girls,” Simons said of her husband, who, at 70, finished in under six hours.
Past the finish, volunteers waited with water and ice cream.
“Getting this ice cream out here was a bit of a struggle, but fun,” said Parker Buerck, a volunteer who stood behind an industrial-sized freezer full of Berkey Creamery ice cream.
Added Meghan Boyle, another volunteer: “We have 1,800 cups for 1,800 athletes.”
Ice cream would still be cold for the runners in the rear. Grabow, who completed the course in just over eight hours, did not mind being among the last to finish.
“I love being in the back,” she said at a panel on Saturday, “‘cause nobody’s around me.”
For Grabow, racing has more to do with joy than finishing on the podium.
“If it’s not fun,” she asked, “why are you doing it?”
This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 5:21 PM.
