Media are invited to the third annual Racin’ the Station duathlon Sept. 27 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
More than 200 athletes of all ages will try to finish a specially designed course in the same amount of time – a little over 90 minutes – that it takes the International Space Station, traveling about 17,000 mph, to complete one circuit around Earth.
The timed course for adults begins at 8:30 a.m. CDT with a 3.14 km run, followed by a 23 km bicycle ride, and finishes with another 3.14 km run, with the start and finish line at Marshall’s Wellness Center Building 4315. The length of the running portion of the race is not a coincidence. Race organizers arranged the distance to coincide with the number pi or π, approximately equal to 3.14159.
The race is designed for participants of any ability. If the event seems too strenuous, adult participants can form two-person relay teams, in which one does the running portions and a partner handles the cycling.
After a successful inaugural race in 2012, race organizers introduced a youth “anti-duathlon” in 2013 where participants reverse the activities and bike, run and bike again on the shorter courses — also based on pi. The youth event begins immediately following the main event. There are two different overall lengths based on the self-assessed ability of the youth. The short course starts and finishes with a two-mile bike ride (approximately 3.14 km) with a half-mile run in between. The youth long course is twice the length of the short: four-mile rides with a one-mile run separating them.
Racers will travel by many Marshall Center facilities including the Payload Operations Integration Center, the command post of space station science. At race headquarters, they will have the opportunity to learn about NASA programs, including the International Space Station, the Space Launch System, Mighty Eagle, the United Launch Alliance Atlas IV and Delta V rockets and exhibits of the Patriot missile and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles from the U.S. Army. Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony following the end of the race.
The event is organized by the Team Rocket Triathlon Club in Huntsville and by the Marshall Association, a professional employee service organization at the Marshall Center whose members include civil service employees, retirees and contractors. It provides informal networking and community-building opportunities for its members. Proceeds from the registration fee for the event go to the Marshall Association scholarship fund.
News media interested in covering the event should contact the Marshall Center Office of Public & Employee Communications at 256-544-0034 no later than 2 p.m. Sept. 26.
For details on the race, including course maps and distances, visit the Racin’ the Station Duathlon website:
www.imathlete.com/events/RacintheStation
For more information on the Marshall Space Flight Center, visit us on the Web:
We will also be updating out social media pages with race updates:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/NASA_Marshall
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NASAMarshallCenter
Instagram: www.instagram.com/NASA_Marshall
Google+: https://plus.google.com/101548568475678729022/posts
