Fans got creative with signs and cheers as they supported Ironman 70.3 tri-athletes

Thousands of tri-athletes conquered the Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells - La Quinta race on Sunday. Those participants brought family with them. 

 News Channel 3 caught up with some of the supporters. There were so many fans at various portions of the race.

My favorite part of the day was seeing families run alongside their tri-athletes to cheer them on and give high fives. Creative homemade signs had participants feeling the support. People flew from the East Coast, Mexico, Canada, and more to be in this race, and the family came for the adventure.

One family flew from Mexico and wanted to share a sweet message to their tri-athlete. "We're so happy for you," says Gaby Castillo, wife of an Ironman 70.3 triathlete. "We love you so much, like everyone in this family. You're special beats for our hearts."

The excitement of families seeing their loved ones complete the course had them in awe.

"We thought he was insane," says Jeff and Carol Hassman, mother and father of an Ironman 70.3 triathlete. "Because he, I don't think he did any training for it. So, not much training. Not much training. Yeah. So just so happy that he accomplished it. Yeah. It's pretty amazing".

    As people were swimming, biking, and running, La Quinta and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments were minimizing traffic in the valley.

    Fans from out of state told me they were able to use the Ironman interactive maps we shared online to get around the race routes.

    Traffic operations say all roads are now open except Miles and Washington. They did say, possibly around 5:30 pm, Sunday, that the last intersection should be opening up.