How it all Began

In 1999, Efrain “Beeps” Phillips had an idea. Well, sort of.

He was always a sports enthusiast at heart and used to play basketball competitively. But his idea did not involve basketball. It involved cycling, a sport in which his older brother Mike excelled during the 1980's.

As a Customs Officer working at the Port Authority Warehouse, Phillips first became interested in wanting Customs personnel to compete with Port employees in mountain bike races for bragging rights. A few races were in fact staged. However, the participation was lower than expected. Phillips decided to move away from a departmental event to a national appeal in sport.

After one day listening to some Port Authority personnel accuse him of only being interested in bike races, he became motivated to look at other sport alternatives. One day while watching television, he saw a triathlon being broadcast live in the United States. That was when the idea hit him—a triathlon.

Phillips discussed his brainchild with his work colleagues. It was not a hard sell because of its novelty, and by September 2000, the first-ever Lionman Triathlon, was staged in Belize City, Belize.