Updated at 4:05 p.m. — Yesterday’s meeting on a potential Lake Audubon renaming was suspended after 20 minutes due to a medical emergency. The meeting will be rescheduled, but an exact date hasn’t been determined yet, Reston Association spokesperson Mike Leone says.

Earlier: Months after floating the possibility of a name change for Lake Audubon, Reston Association is beginning initial conversations with the community.

RA planned to hold a meeting on the idea of renaming the lake yesterday (Thursday) at the Walker Nature Center.

The meeting was strictly intended to “explore community sentiment on whether to rename Lake Audubon,” RA spokesperson Mike Leone said.

Leone told FFXnow that the meeting focused on getting input from members in the area around the lake on the possibility of a name change.

“Currently, no other meetings or discussions are scheduled on the renaming,” Leone wrote in a statement.

RA’s Board of Directors first pitched the idea at a December meeting. The motion was suggested by at-large director John Farrell, who later announced that he is running in the state delegate race to succeed Ken Plum.

Farrell is also seeking to retain his seat on the RA board, which has an election now underway.

The lake is named after 19th century artist and known enslaver John James Audubon.

In October 2021, the Audubon Naturalist Society — a major D.C. area conservation group — said it will change its name due to the “pain” caused by Audubon. The organization is now called Nature Forward.

The National Audubon Society, however, voted earlier this week to keep its name, even as local chapters of the bird conservation nonprofit — including the one in D.C. — move to drop it.

Restonians can officially enjoy a series of multi-sport events for adult and youth athletes, including a Reston staple: the Reston Triathlon.

CORE Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to address charitable needs, has launched “Racing in Reston,” a series of events that grows out of the popular Reston Sprint Triathlon, which started out as a singular community event in 2007.

The move revives the triathlon that had been organized each fall by the Reston Triathlon Association since 1984. Last year, the group announced that the event would be discontinued due to financial and logistical issues.

“CORE Foundation wants to see this event which was unique to so many families in our community, continue,” the foundation said in an announcement earlier this month, noting that it worked closely with the previous board to bring the triathlon back.

The event has been renamed the Reston Olympic Triathlon “to avoid confusion with our Sprint event,” event organizers said.

The “Racing in Reston” series includes the Reston Sprint Triathlon, which is slated to happen next year on June 4, and the second annual Reston superhero youth triathlon, which is coming in the fall of next year. The series will conclude with the 37th annual Reston Olympic Triathlon on Sept. 10, 2023.

Registration is currently open for the 17th annual Reston Sprint Triathlon. The cost of tickets is $110 for individuals and $200 for relays if purchased before Jan. 4.

The Olympic triathlon will open with a 1,500-meter open water swim in Lake Audubon and will be followed by a 25-mile bike and 10K run in Reston.

Going forward, the event will be held annually on the first Sunday following Labor Day.

Lake Audubon Terrace residents are protesting Reston Association’s decision to order the removal of their boats on the organization’s shoreline — a practice residents say they had been doing for years without issue.

In a petition discussed before RA’s Board of Directors in late June, the Lake Audubon Terrace Cluster asked permission to access the shoreline. They say the order has increased overcrowding, undermined their ability to offer mooring spots to owners near their homes, and “directly diminished” property values of owners who can’t access the shoreline.

“We believe that RA’s consideration of our request should rest primarily on what is fair and right by its directly impacted constituents, not how the outcome is perceived by others,” said the Feb. 6 letter submitted to the board by Cris Revaz, the cluster’s vice president.

The petition has the signatures of nearly all lakefront and Lakeview owners.

The discussion follows a failed motion to allow the cluster to continue using the shoreline for boat mooring in October 2021. RA staff and board directors said then that allowing residents to maintain access to the shoreline would set a precedent for other residents’ to seek similar relief.

In recent years, RA began a concerted attempt to implement and streamline its boat and docking procedures, many of which previously were not enforced. The association sought to refine its policies to address enforcement and oversight issues involving lake use and access.

So far, there has been no resolution on the issue, according to RA’s spokesperson Mike Leone.

“It is my understanding that the Board plans to discuss this in Executive Session during their July 28 Board of Directors meeting,” Leone wrote in a statement to FFXnow.

As a part of the negotiation, residents say they are prepared to beautify part of the slope leading to the shore, rehabilitate mooring spots and eroded docking points, install a fish habitat, and preserve landscaping and vegetation along the shoreline.

“We believe our request for reconsideration is very fair and reasonable, would have a positive impact on the environmental health of the shore and the lake, holds no adverse precedent for RA, and reflects a position outcome that avoids further contention between our cluster and he RA board,” the petition states.