OCEANSIDE —— The group was gone without a trace probably before some of the neighbors woke up, and definitely before most beachgoers showed up.

Early Saturday morning, more than 100 athletes competed in a 1K swim and 5K run, donning wetsuits in the cold water by the Oceanside Municipal Pier, and then running clothes for the trip down the hard-packed sand.

Most competitors called it a "sprint," a quickie training session, an introduction to triathlons (even though this event didn't include bicycling).

Yeah, well, maybe for them. The race isn't for sissies, and it isn't for folks who sigh when they realize they have to climb stairs to reach the top side of the pier.

Hosted by Encinitas-based Multisports.com, the swim/run competition was scheduled to start at 7 a.m. and end at 9 a.m. But everyone finished so fast —— the last runner crossed the line around 8:10 a.m. —— the awards presentation was bumped up a half an hour.

Race co-chairman Paul Huddle said this was the first time for the race, a get-it-right event that he hopes will lead to more local races. Judging by the reactions of the competitors, the organizers got it right.

The 42-year-old Encinitas man is a world-class athlete himself, placing three times among the top ten finishers in the annual Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii.

Eight-time Ironman winner Paula Newby-Fraser was also a race official, cheering on competitors and handing them water as they crossed the finish line near the pier.

"This allows new people to get into the sport," Newby-Fraser said. "People like to come out and start with something short and not kill themselves."

Runner Bob Babbitt looked over at Newby-Fraser —— who in 1997 was named, along with people such as Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, as one of the top five female athletes in the previous quarter-century —— and smiled.

"It's like being at the All-Star game and seeing Alex Rodriguez handing out water," Babbitt said.

The 54-year-old Babbitt, himself a member of the Ironman Hall of Fame, raved about the new event, and said he thinks the portion of the race that has competitors running on the pier —— "How cool is that?" he said —— could become the signature piece of the event.

Not participating, but on hand to check out the competition was Jake, the golden retriever who, alongside owner Jeff Pokonosky, completed a 1.2 mile swim from Alcatraz to the San Francisco shoreline last week.

The escapade, which came as part of an organized race, made Jake and Pokonosky media darlings this past week.

Jake, by the way, bested most of his competition —— all of them human —— and officially placed 72nd out of the more than 500 swimmers who took part in the San Francisco swim.

Contact Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.