Our first step was to search out locations. We looked at several and decided on three that we thought we could handle as first time race directors. The first location was in Tuckahoe, NJ on a small local beach facing the Bay called Mosquito Landing. The beach was connected to a wildlife management area with more than 6 miles of running trails as well as country roads that we had spent years riding. The location was located in Upper Township so we decided on the name Upperman. We also connected with the local Merchant’s Association and decided on a date that fell on the Saturday before their annual canoe race held every first Sunday in August. We offered to leave our equipment on site so that they could use the tents, tables, and music system as part of the canoe race. We thought that it was a great opportunity to do all that we wanted, hold a great event that was meaningful to the local community.

We quickly took steps to develop a proposal to the local authorities, the Township of Upper and the NJ Wildlife Management Reserve authority, and engage the State police and USAT for sanctioning. First, we decided on a name. We lived in Brooklyn and were surprised at how much we loved the urban environment, each of us having grown up in non-urban locations. So we thought why not combine the City & Tri for something that was catchy and connected with who we were, a couple that had a passion for both the urban landscape and the active lifestyle that was triathlon. We decided on Citytri and using a neat font created our first logo and tag line. The latter was a play on a tag line for the fraternity that George was part of while an undergraduate, Not Four Years but a Lifetime. The CityTri tag line, Not One Race but a Lifetime, fit exactly what we felt, a commitment to the sport that last for the rest of our lives.

We mapped out one course, an international distance triathlon and duathlon and included it in our proposal. Alejandra had recently graduated from NYU’s graduate program for Interactive Telecommunication and was skilled in different software, one was Flash. She used flash to quickly put together a web site showing all the information that an athlete needs for an event and added registration buttons to active.com. The proposal was approved with one exception, there would be no swim because of the water quality. The water was below the acceptable levels to allow swimming due primarily to local runoff and animals. We were disappointed but opted to proceed with the 1st Annual Upperman Duathlon. Final approvals came late however, in part because we began the process late, allowing us only a little over one month to advertise the event. We produced flyers, showed up at other events, and left them under the windshield wipers of every participant’s car. We also left them at local bike stores and health clubs and then we waited, and waited, and waited.