On Saturday May 19th, over 20 young aspiring triathletes gathered at Trellis Bay, Beef Island to take part in the 4th youth development event hosted by the BVI Triathlon Federation (BVITF) and BSAFE. Children under 15 with interest in any portion of the triathlon – swim, bike, or run – were encouraged to participate regardless of their individual ambitions.
This is the fourth event we have held and third at Trellis Bay. Thanks to all the dedicated volunteers and the location we now have a rhythm that make set up and conducting the event much easier because everyone knows what they need to do to make the event fun and safe.
The biggest challenge is getting the kids to the event and then establishing what they want to do. Since triathlon development is so new to the BVI, getting the youngsters, who may have little experience with the swimming aspect of a triathlon, to participate in the whole event can be a challenge so we spend time and effort to give them every opportunity to watch and participate.What we do is start with relays to give some participants who are unsure, of the challenge to do all three by themselves, a chance to see how short the entire race is. Currently we are trying to encourage all levels of fitness and interest to show up in hope that we can find a solid core who wish to take the sport seriously enough to train regularly and progress beyond these fun events.
The day started with one Under 11 age group relay. We had 3 swimmers tagging 6 riders with most riders also doubling up and doing the run. Although our numbers were lower than previous events it is interesting to see that more and more kids are opting just to do the individual event and those who do the team event as the rider are opting to do the run as well. Hopefully these participants will eventually take on the swim and then we will have another individual participant.
In the under15 age group we had 6 participants that opted to do a duathlon since there were no swimmers to tag them. Other than eventual winner Dekembe Parson they all showed up just to do the riding leg of a relay, but they all gamely tried this event which saw the participants do 1 lap of the run and then get on their bikes for 2 laps and then finish with one lap run. Duathlons are an actual event done at a professional level, but it is not an Olympic event so it generates less public attention than the triathlon.
There were 12 individuals spread between 3 age groups, the under 11 age group was the largest with 6 participants.
We have had four great events because of all the volunteers who come out to help. I would like to thank all the volunteers and parents who turned up to make this event run smoothly. Rochelle and Grant who made a huge effort to get kids pre-registered so competitors arriving on the day were able to find a team to swim, ride or run for easily; Maria and Ms. Potter for recording results at the finish line; the “radio course marshals” Ken, Orano, Peter and Reggie; and all the parents at the start finish area. Thanks go out again to Boardsailing BVI and Aragorn’s Studios who have been so accommodating when we take over their beach front for a few hours.
The 5th and final youth development event before the summer starts will be held on Saturday June 23rdth at Trellis Bay. This event will be tied into the BVIOC’s Olympic Solidarity events so the start times have yet to be determined. We are already planning on making that a special day so mark your calendars now!
For more Youth Triathlon information please contact Chris at 542-1981 or [email protected].
RESULTS for Event 3 Youth Development Triathlon April 21st, 2012
Under 11 Relays (1lap) names listed in order of swim-bike-run
1st Lawton Green – Jake Hallett- Sam Childs 4:40
2nd Lawton Green – Josh Cowlard (bike-run) 4:50
3rd Bradford Green – Dijorn Rouse (bike-run) 5:20
4th Bradford Green – Nickhoy Joseph (bike-run) 5:33
5th Shakeba Pickering (swim-bike)– Dominic Munroe 5:34
6th Lawton Green – Jaline Lettsome (bike-run) 6:21
Under 15 Duathlon individuals (1 lap run, 2 laps bike, 1 lap run)
1st Dekembe Parsons 5:44
2nd Devonte Prentice 5:48
3rd Omauni Francis 7:20
4th Nichuan Browne 8:48
5th Layman Johnny 9:15
6th Yakhushi Williams 14:42
Under 8 Individuals (1 lap)
1st Bradford Green 5:45
2nd Conner MacCullum 6:35
3rd Noah Cottreau 6:50
4th Hannah Bridson 7:34
Under 11 Individuals (1 lap)
1st Sam Childs 4:50
2nd Dominic Munro 5:10
3rd Josh Cowlard 5:52
4th Shakudo Pickering 7:00
5th Angelica Pini 8:32
Lawton Green retired with injury
Under 15 Individuals (1 lap)
1st Dekembe Parsons 4:15
2nd Omauni Francis 5:26