Bill Leach

Bryce Alderton

As if the Pacific Coast Triathlon didn’t lure world-class athletes

before, this year has an “Olympic” feel unlike any other for the

course that winds its way along the bluffs, beaches and blue waters

around Crystal Cove State Park.

For the first time in its six-year history, 70 professional

triathletes from around the world competed Saturday, trying to garner

points toward securing a spot for the U.S. Olympic trials. Athletes

swam 1,500 meters, rode a bicycle for 25 miles and ran five miles on

a course plotted by many volunteers and overseen by Bob Cuyler and

Bill Leach, who formed the triathlon six years ago.

Leach, who competed in the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii

for the first time in 1981, and Cuyler, a Newport Beach dentist, have

worked nearly 400 races worldwide since meeting 20 years ago.

One of Cuyler’s patients, Jeff Horn, a Newport Beach artist, was a

classmate of Leach and introduced the two to each other.

“We started to train together and a rivalry was formed,” Leach

recalled. “He wanted to do better and worked harder and harder. He

beat me in some of the races and I beat him in some.

“We’ve grown as friends, trusting each other a lot. There is not

an ego problem as you sometimes get with partners.”

The course mapped out for today’s sprint championship for

age-division entrants, which will number nearly 1,200, begins near

the trailers along the beach at El Moro as the athletes delve into

the water for a half-mile swim. Then they will bicycle for 12 miles,

climbing and descending on hills and finally finish with a three-mile

run along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Instead of doing two loops of six miles each, bikers will traverse

the hilly terrain for six loops, each one spanning two miles.

“There is no flat part on the bike course,” Leach said. “We’ve

taken out the flat part from one mile south of Corona del Mar and

added two extra loops. This is one of the toughest courses any pro

triathlete will be on.”

Spectators standing on the beach will be able to watch athletes

during the swim portion and as they run up and down the beach.

For Leach, 57, an Advanced Placement world history teacher at

Corona del Mar High, these trails are quite familiar. Leach and

Cuyler ride their bikes along the course three times a week and have

been doing it for 20 years.

The frequent changes in elevation throughout the course make this

triathlon difficult, and special, Leach said.

“It is never easy,” he said.

An avid bodysurfer and kayaker -- he competed in the K-2 kayak

race in the 1976 Montreal Games -- Leach most recently competed in

the swimming and biking pro division at a triathlon in Carlsbad. Pain

in the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the human body which

extends from each side of the lower spine, through the buttocks and

into the back of the thigh, hinders Leach’s ability to run for

prolonged stretches of time, so he doesn’t compete as much as he did

in the past.

Not to worry. He spends time with sons Shane and Hayden and wife

Julie, who competed alongside Leach in the ’76 Games in the K-1 race.

She finished seventh in the medal race and claimed the Ironman in

1982.

“It is like meeting God,” Bill said of competing in the Ironman.

“You meet yourself in that race.”

The couple will return to Hawaii in August to celebrate the 25th

anniversary of the first Ironman.

“It means even more now that when we were doing the race,” Bill

said. “Finishing is a pretty fulfilling moment.”

State Assemblyman John Campbell, who represents the cove and

Newport Beach, along with Dave Kiff, Newport Beach’s assistant city

manager, Mike Tope, a State Parks official in charge of the Southern

California region and Dan Neyenhuis, a former Newport Beach lifeguard

along with Leach, who donated 2,000 singlets, or cut-off jerseys

given to winners of each age division, have all assisted in the

event’s planning.

“We’ve had fabulous volunteer help,” Leach said. “Any setbacks

have been overshadowed by the community support.”

The community can come out to cheer on the athletes at 7 a.m.

today.