Media are invited to the fourth annual Racin’ the Station duathlon Sept. 26 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
More than 200 athletes will try to finish a specially designed course in the same amount of time that it takes the International Space Station, traveling about 17,000 mph, to complete one circuit around Earth — a little over 90 minutes.
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. Race organizers arranged the distance to coincide with the number pi or π, approximately equal to 3.14159.
A youth “anti-duathlon” where participants reverse the activities and bike, run and bike again on shorter courses — also based on pi — begins immediately following the main event.
Destin Sandlin, host of the YouTube “Smarter Every Day” series, will emcee the event and bring his “backwards brain bicycle” — a bike that goes in the opposite direction as its handlebars.
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. Proceeds from the registration fee for the event go to the Marshall Association scholarship fund.
News media interested in covering the event should contact Molly Porter at molly.a.porter@nasa.gov or 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. Sept. 25.
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:
www.nasa.gov/marshall
