By John RittenhouseA sure sign that summer is almost over will be visible on the streets of Luverne Monday.The 22nd annual Minnesota Border to Border Triathlon will officially start in Luverne Tuesday.As part of the customary send-off, the annual parade will take place on Luverne’s Main Street at 4:30 p.m. Monday.The parade will be made up of participating teams, local law enforcement, fire and ambulance personnel.Area children are encouraged to participate in the parade, too.Kids are invited to decorate their bikes, tricycles or wagons and meet in the Sears parking lot at 4:15 p.m. They will lead the parade from Sears to the corner of Main and Freeman Streets. All children participating in the parade will receive a coupon for a Dairy Queen treat.The parade route will start at the Sears lot and head west down Main Street to the corner of Main and Freeman, where the race participants will be introduced to the crowd. The athletes and their vehicles will then proceed south on Freeman Street to Sharkee’s, where they will have a pre-race banquet.The actual race begins at 6 a.m. Tuesday, Aug 6, on the corner of Main and Cedar streets.That’s where the athletes officially begin a 200-mile bike trek to St. Cloud that makes up the first day of the event.Day 2 of the event consists of a 200-mile bike race from St. Cloud to Eveleth. Day 3 consists of a 50-mile run from Eveleth to Cook, and Day 4 consists of a 50-mile canoe race on the Vermillion River to Crane Lake.A total of 26 teams have registered for the 2003 version of the event.There will be nine two-person teams, nine three-person teams and eight four-person teams.
