The Chicago Triathlon, now in its 41^st year, returns this weekend.

Debuting this year is a supertri League pro race, featuring 11 Olympic athletes.

The weekend will see more than 8,500 athletes, including 1,000 kids, ranging from first timers to race veterans from more than 20 countries and 45 states.

Events will be Saturday and Sunday in downtown Chicago.

Owned and operated by supertri, the Chicago Triathlon is the largest urban triathlon in the United States. This year’s course starts in Lake Michigan, winds through the streets of the city and finishes in the middle of Grant Park.

Debuting this year is the supertri League race series, where athletes will compete against each other including 11 Olympic medalists in Paris. In addition to the inaugural supertri race, events surrounding the Chicago Triathlon also include a SuperSprint race and Kids Tri Chicago race on Saturday, as well as a Sprint race and International race on Sunday.

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is the premier beneficiary of the ChicagoTriathlon’s inaugural Corporate Challenge. The Corporate Challenge is the business world’s triathlon competition where companies vie to raise the most funds for pediatric cancer and blood-disorder research at Lurie Children’s. To date, it has raised more than $50,000.

Weekend events include:

• Kids Triathlon, starting at 7 a.m. for ages 7-10 and 8 a.m. for ages 11-14, at Foster Beach, 5200 N. Lake Shore Drive
• Pro athletes handing out medals to kids Saturday.
• The Kids Award Ceremony at noon Saturday
• The swim start, with a pipe and drums corps, at 6 a.m. Sunday
• Supertri League Pro Races on Sunday, with the women’s race beginning at 12:30 p.m. and the men’s race beginning at 1:30 p.m., at Queens Landing, just across from Buckingham Fountain toward the lake (500 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive)