River Place residents Conner Erwin and Brent Werbeck are competing in a triathlon they created for charity called Fool’s Race. Photo by Christina Muchow of Hatched Photography

By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Two River Place residents, Conner Erwin and Brent Werbeck, created a full course triathlon  called Fool’s Race that they will be competing in and benefiting charity along the way.

Neither Erwin nor Werbeck have completed a race of this length before, with Werbeck never having completed a triathlon before. But they plan to participate to the fullest, said Erwin, husband and father of two sons, Van and Jet. He is vice president of sales for hospitality tech firm, b4checkin.

“We expect the race to take us around 13 hours to finish,” said Erwin, who will be 42 on April 1.

Werbeck, 32, is also a husband and father of two. The co-founder of Get More Reviews was a collegiate tennis player who borrowed a bike for the event.  

They plan to either do the race on March 31 or April 7, depending on weather and wind. The dates are close to Fool’s Day, hence the race name.

“Ideally, we want 70-80 degrees, sunny and very little wind,” said Erwin, who lost 50 lbs last year and while doing so, broke his arm training for Ironman 70.3 Waco, which he completed in October.

Instead of finding another nearby, for-profit Ironman Triathlon to compete in, the two created this one. And instead of donating what would be typical Ironman fees — over $800 — they are each donating that sum to a charity of their choice, Erwin said.

He will give to the SAFE Alliance and Austin Pets Alive! and Werbeck’s charity benefactors will be Wounded Warrior Project and the LT Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation.

A full-course triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile run, which is raced in order and without a break.

Fool’s Race

• The 2.4 mile swim starts in Steiner Ranch and ends at Woodlands Park in River place.
• The 112 mile bike course climbs out of River Place and goes northwest as far as Bartlett, Tex. finishing at Brushy Creek Park in Cedar Park.
• The 26.22 mile run starts with a run through Brushy Creek Park and tracks back to Suntree Park in River Place.

For more information, go to www.foolsrace.com

Madison Pharis contributed to this article.