Courtesy: USAT

The harbor that once hosted the Boston Tea Party will host elite and age group triathletes Sunday at the first Monster Challenge Triathlon in Boston.

The race, sponsored by Monster.com and organized by Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray, will be Olympic distance (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) and will be an International Triathlon Union (ITU) points race for the elite athletes competing.

"It is great to have another ITU points race in the United States and Dave McGillivray is a master director," said USA Triathlon Executive Director Steve Locke. "I am sure the Monster Challenge Triathlon will be a wonderful experience for both elite and age group athletes."

Among the elite competitors will be hometown favorite Karen Smyers (Lincoln, Mass.), who won the U.S. Elite National Championship on Aug. 12 in New York. Smyers is making a strong comeback from treatment for thyroid cancer, having won four races this season. On the men's side, Nick Radkewich (New London, N.H.), a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, will compete for part of the $25,000 prize purse. Radkewich placed ninth at last weekend's ITU World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland, the second highest finish for a U.S. man in a World Cup race this year.

The racecourse will start and end in front of the World Trade Center on Boston Harbor. Racers will swim in the harbor around the Trade Center, and then transition INSIDE the center. Athletes will bike through the city out Memorial Drive and back to run through Marine Industrial Park.

Many of the age group competitors will be raising money for the Aids Action Committee, New England's leading provider of AIDS services, education and advocacy.

For more information on the Monster Challenge Triathlon, please go to www.monsterchallenge.org.