More than 400 triathletes will run, swim and bike today at Lone Star Lake when the third annual Midwest Mayhem Triathlon gets underway this morning.

Jim Caskey, director of event management for the triathlon, was still fielding late registrations and handing out packets about the course yesterday afternoon at Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop.

He said the race, which is held at Lone Star every year and was re-named Midwest Mayhem a couple years back, will feature two levels of competition – an Olympic-distance triathlon and a sprint-distance triathlon.

Caskey said an athlete’s involvement in one race or the other depended on the individual’s comfort level.

“A lot of hard-core folks go out and do the Olympic distance,” he said.

The Olympic-distance triathlon is scheduled to start at 7:30 this morning, and the sprint-distance triathlon will begin 30 minutes after that.

The long course will feature a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike course and a 6.2-mile run. As for the short course, triathletes will swim 500 meters, bike 11.4 miles and run 3.1 miles.

“It’s a good, solid course,” Caskey said, adding that the hills around the lake could be challenging, but “not overly strenuous.”

Typically, Caskey said, athletes who compete in triathlons can vary greatly in age (anywhere from teens to people in their 70s), but most of the time they are all “very focused and determined.”

Midwest Mayhem has drawn competitors from throughout the region. Athletes from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado and Iowa will compete today. Among them, Caskey said, personal goals and reasons for competing depend on the individual.

“Some people have specific goals,” he said. “It might stem from wanting to lose weight or trying to better themselves. I’ve seen a lot of people who, just out of sheer determination, just want to set a significant challenge and then achieve it.”

Caskey said the race can be rewarding, even for spectators.

“For me, it’s fun to cheer people on and watch that last little bit of encouragement push them towards that finish line,” he said. “It’s really awesome to see.”

Overall winners in each race and the top three finishers in each age bracket will be rewarded today at the conclusion of the triathlon.

Triathlon spectators will not be allowed to drive vehicles into or out of Lone Star’s marina after 7:15 a.m.