There are a number of really cool triathlons that take place in the Great Lakes, but the gold standard in my opinion is the Great Lakes Escape Triathlon. It’s held in early September in Marblehead, Ohio (near Sandusky) and it’s designed to give you an experience similar to the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon.
The overwhelmingly awesome highlight of the Great Lakes Escape Triathlon is the swim start. You board a Jet Express ferry which takes you out in the middle of Lake Erie among the Lake Erie Islands. You then jump into the open water along with a few hundred other intrepid souls and do a 1.5K point-to-point swim to the beach:
The swim alone is worth signing up for this event. If you’re not a runner or a cyclist, you can recruit a couple of friends and register as a relay team (with you doing the swim part, of course). But if you are into triathlons, this is an awesome Great Lakes destination event. Check it out!