Last month we reported that the District’s first official triathlon, the Nation’s Triathlon, was a go. After months of haggling with competing jurisdictions for permit, race organizers got the final go-ahead for the event, which would include a swim in the Potomac River, a bike ride up Rock Creek Park, and a run to the U.S. Capitol and back.

Plenty of readers made jokes about swimming in the Potomac. Hell, so did I — though I’m participating in the event, I decided to avoid what lurks in the murky waters of the Potomac and settle for a relay team, with me handling cycling duties. Now it seems that the jokes might be true, and the Nation’s Triathlon is suddenly the Nation’s Duathlon. In an email sent yesterday, race organizers wrote:

Swim Segment. We received a letter 9/12/06 from the DC Metro Police stating the Harbor Permit we submitted was denied. The swim segment will be canceled and a 3k run substituted in its place.

The Nation’s Triathlon and the Triathlon community have accomplished a lot this year to bring a USAT Sanctioned triathlon to Washington, DC. We are now only one of three races with permission to use Rock Creek Parkway. The other two being longtime races the Marine Corps Marathon and the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.

Secondly we made it important to DC to establish a known process for securing the Harbor Permit based on pre-established requirements for assessing water quality testing and results.

Ahhhh, so maybe everything we joked about the Potomac River is true. Maybe it was the story of the intersex fish in the Post last week that scared off D.C. officials. Either way — good call. No glory in victory is worth being both a man and a woman, is it?