COEUR d’ALENE — Coeur d'Alene parents Lynn and Dave Graser beamed as they took photos of their son, Zane, who was still cooling down after completing the Coeur d'Alene Triathlon.

"He's trained so hard to be able to swim and bike and hike," Dave said. "He's overcome so many troubles. I'm just so proud of him."

Zane, who is hearing impaired and survived several health problems as a child, also smiled as he shared his experience participating in his first Coeur d'Alene Triathlon.

"The race was fun. A little bit challenging, but I enjoyed it a lot," he said. "I train a lot on this course for Ironman, so I'm very familiar with it."

Nearly 500 people participated in the 34th annual Coeur d'Alene Triathlon, which took athletes for a dip in Lake Coeur d'Alene, a bike ride along Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive and a run along Northwest Boulevard and the Spokane River.

"I'm feeling great. It's an awesome race, it's our favorite race of the year," said George Dahl of Spokane, whose three kids greeted him with hugs after he completed the triathlon. "We love the event, the venue, the energy around it."

"You can't stop until you cross the finish line," said George's 11-year-old son, Carson, who encouraged his dad to sprint the last stretch of the race. "You don't slow down, you just run through it." 

The lake was warmer than usual and the air was smokier than normal, but despite these factors, race director Scott Ward said the day went "incredibly smooth."

"It was all good. It was just a beautiful day," he said. "You can't beat the venue and the beautiful lake. We're pretty fortunate to have really nice clear, clear lakes. It's a good bike course — somewhat challenging but yet, it has a lot of variety. The run course is flat, which is ideal after you do all that. It's just a great local race."

The Coeur d'Alene Triathlon is presented by the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce.

Results: www.atltiming.com/results/2017/cda-triathlon.html