Triathlon is finished

The Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday denied the special event permit for the Newport Beach Triathlon over objections from the race organizers and other supporters.

The council voted, 6-1, with Councilman Dick Nichols dissenting.

“The [city] staff feels the event as operated in the last two years is inconvenient beyond reasonableness,” City Manager Homer Bludau said.

But Robert Mortensen of Newport Beach said the city wasn’t considering what the race means to people.

“I don’t know where all this negativity has come from,” Mortensen said. “There are all sorts of alternatives rather than just denying” the permit.

The council had initially denied the permit, and the event organizers appealed.

The city staffers earlier recommended that the permit not be approved, saying the triathlon would interrupt the normal traffic. The triathlon has taken place in Newport Beach for 28 years.

The running in the event takes place on Back Bay Drive. Runners follow Back Bay Drive past Big Canyon Gully, then turn around and finish right front of the dunes.