Even more honor a hero

More than 150 athletes of all skill levels crowded at the Huntington City Beach over the weekend to swim, bike and run for medical research.

The Ryan family, a family of Huntington beach triathletes, organized the OC Blazeman Triathlon last year in honor of their inspiration Jon “Blazeman” Blais, who completed all 140.6 miles of the 2005 Ironman World Championship in Hawaii even as he suffered from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). This year, they said, was bigger than ever and the Sunday event raised thousands of dollars to fight ALS and multiple sclerosis and to help disabled athletes.

The originally informal event, which stretches down the bike path and up the Santa Ana River Trail, is now big enough that it’s going to need more organization next year, said Dana Ryan.

“We’re going to have to get a bunch of permits,” she said. “When we showed up, we were thinking, ‘What are all of these people doing here?’ A lot of people hadn’t signed up — they just showed up.”

Rather than charging an entry fee, the event asked for a donation to the Blazeman Foundation ( www.waronals.com) to fight ALS, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

It wasn’t a race, organizers said. Those who participated took as little as a single ocean lap around the pier or 5-mile bike ride, or they had the chance to try for the 140.6-mile Ironman distance in Blais’ honor.

“The idea is not about the time you finish in but enjoying the activity, just like Jon did,” said Nan Kappeler, a participant who has worked to promote the event.

And participants had plenty of fun honoring a real hero, Ryan said.

“It was really nice because the dad of Jon Blais was there,” she said. “A good time was had by all. It was a really sweet event.”

For more information, go to www.ocblazeman.com.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].