COEUR d’ALENE — Three local triathletes, all of whom are familiar faces to the local racing scene, took their turns at different moments of glory on Sunday, at the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene.

Derek Garcia, who recovered from testicular cancer, finished with the same ninth-place finish he had last year at the full Ironman Coeur d’Alene, finishing with a time of 4 hours, 9 minutes, 55 seconds. At one point midway through the 56-mile bike ride, the professional triathlete was in sixth place and was shooting for the top five, but it was not meant to be for the 31-year-old married father of three.

He said the half-Ironman has its own challenges.

“Everything is magnified,” said Garcia, who splits his time between Coeur d’Alene and San Diego. “You make little mistakes here and there, it becomes big. The speed is so much higher, I went hard on the bike. At around 45 (miles of the bike course), I really blew up. I went hard on the bike the last 10 miles. It’s a process and you pay for it. The top five was where I really wanted to be.”

While Garcia felt he’s gotten better, so has his competition. The top three finishers all came in less than 4 minutes and Garcia was well behind eighth-place finisher Chris Baird (4:05.47).

Garcia’s next event is Ironman Canada in Whistler, British Columbia, just north of Vancouver.

“It continues and this sport has gotten tougher,” Garcia said. “Everyone’s gotten better, which is great for the sport. The challenge is to get better. This is an amazing atmosphere.”

The first local female to cross the finish line was 50-year-old Suzanne Endsley (5:14.36) of Hayden, who has competed in triathlons for 20 years and nearly 30 races, starting with the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon. She competed with her husband, Shaun Endsley (4:53.08). Suzanne helped bring the Ironman race to Coeur d’Alene 13 years ago. She works as a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management in Coeur d’Alene.

“It was really good,” Endsley said of her race. “The swim’s not my best part. I had a solid bike and a solid run. It feels really good to be the first one (local female runner). This is awesome, in 2003 back when we brought Ironman here, I was at the table helping get them oriented and showcased Coeur d’Alene. It has completely changed, we have more fitness and health-oriented folks. This is an opportunity to showcase the beauty here and it has an economic benefit here. It’s really been a plus.”

The first non-pro, non-relay competitor who finished first among all local particpants was Greg Gervais of Coeur d’Alene. The 45-year-old owner of Copper Basin Construction in Coeur d’Alene was a respectable ninth out of 222 finishers among competitors ages 45 to 49.

“I think it’s a good course,” Gervais said. “I liked it, I liked the fact they did a half-Ironman. It’s nice to see all my friends out there, I’ve been here 23 years. I’ve done an Ironman many times, last year I went to the World Championships in Austria, in 2014 I competed in a World Championship in Canada and in Kona (Hawaii), about five or six. I’ve had a lot of podium finishes and top-five finishes in my age group.”

Out of more than 3,000 triathletes originally registered, 2,449 finished before the cut-off time of 8 hours, 30 minutes.

Endsley’s postrace plan sounded perfect.

“It’s time to go stand in the lake,” she said.