For the past eight years, hundreds of athletes have descended on Long Beach Township for the third Sunday of September to compete in the Long Beach Island/Bayview Park Triathlon. Such is expected to be the case again on Sept. 17, when DQ Events hosts the event, which also includes a duathlon and aqua/bike competition for those athleteswho want to compete only in the swim and bike portions of the competition.

But this year’s event will be slightly different in that it also serves as part of the USA Triathlon Mid-Atlantic…