David DiMarco’s family does a little bit of everything at the Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival in Sunriver.

He and his two teenage sons are signed up to compete as a relay team Sunday during the Olympic-length triathlon. And his wife and two pre-teen daughters are running the 10K race, also Sunday. Oh, and so is his 70-year-old mother.

“We’ve been coming to Pacific Crest for at least the last seven years,” says the 42-year-old DiMarco, a Eugene-area urologist. “Even when we first started, there was something for everybody to do. The kids would do the Splash Pedal-n-Dash (a mini youth triathlon) and then as they got older maybe the 5K and then the 10K. There’s stuff for everybody.”

Pacific Crest, which last year drew approximately 5,500 competitors, takes over Central Oregon this weekend, the first events starting Friday morning. With two triathlons, two duathlons, a bike tour, four running events ranging from 5 kilometers to a full marathon, and a kids’ triathlon that begins with a 12-foot slide, the Pacific Crest is one of the more family-friendly multisport events in the West.

DiMarco started coming to Pacific Crest as an individual triathlete before eventually turning to duathlons and then team triathlons with his sons.

“I swim, one (son) bikes and one runs,” DiMarco says. “This is our third year in a row. We keep getting faster as they keep getting bigger.”

Now in its 18th year, the Pacific Crest is built around its long-course and Olympic-distance triathlons on Saturday and Sunday, but it caters to families with other events throughout the weekend. Friday features the Kids Splash Pedal-n-Dash and the Tour de Crest, a group bicycle ride of 26 or 55 miles that allows families to see and experience the same bike course on which the triathletes compete.

“It lets families know, ‘OK, this is where Mom or Dad will be,’” says Stephanie Foster of AA Sports, the race company that puts on the Pacific Crest. “Before athletes do competitions on Saturday and Sunday that are more intense, (the Tour de Crest) lets them take a ride with their family.”

A marathon and half marathon are scheduled for Saturday, the same day as the long-course tri. On Sunday, a 10K, a 5K, and kids races of 1 mile and 800 meters are to be staged in conjunction with the Olympic triathlon.

With multiple races options, the DiMarcos have turned their annual trip to Pacific Crest into an early-summer family vacation.

“The atmosphere at the finish line, it’s a blast,” David DiMarco says. “There’s lots of booths and all the blow-up stuff for the kids. And when you’re done with your race, you get to hang out in Sunriver, which is great.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305; beastes@bendbulletin.com.