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Last Saturday, I had the honor of assisting with the HyVee Kids’ Triathlon in Gladstone, Missouri. I say honor because I can’t think of a better way for athletes to support their sport than by volunteering at races. Several Garmin associates were there, lending their time and experience to make the race safe and fun for the young participants. More than 200 kids, ages 6-14, splashed their way through an indoor pool swim, then snagged their bikes and wobbled through transition to face a breezy bike ride through town. After parking their sweet ride (and I do mean sweet—there were some fancy streamers, basketed bikes, and even some training wheels), the participants headed onto the run course to complete 1, 2 or 4 laps on the .25-mile course.
We had a great group of volunteers on the run course and I tasked my running friend and Garmin engineer Tracy with sorting the participants, a process that involved some mental math to associate bib # with age group and number of laps required. Then a couple of course volunteers, Sharpies in hand, swiped runners’ arms as they sped by or directed them to the finish when their laps were complete. At the finish line, each participant received a medal, bestowed by Olympic triathlete Jarrod Shoemaker. To ensure that no participant finished last, we had a designated “last biker” on the course, and my oldest daughter filled the slot of designated “last runner.”
The event sponsors put on quite an after-party with food, drinks and something any kid would wait in line 45 minutes for—face painting. It was fun to see the beaming butterflies, superheroes and other characters accept their age group awards at the closing ceremony. Jarrod was again on hand to present the top awards in each age group. Afterward, I had a chance to meet Jarrod, whose sister Jenna is one of our sponsored triathletes. Jarrod is currently one of the top-ranked triathletes in the world and will be competing in the Madrid World Championship Series next weekend in Spain. Then he’ll be back in the States for competitions in D.C. and later in Des Moines, Iowa for the HyVee World Cup on June 26. One of the participants Saturday was a lucky grand prize winner of a family trip to Des Moines to see Jarrod and other top triathletes race. Congrats to all the participants from last week and kudos to race director Clay Myers-Bowman, HyVee and their marketing team for putting on a youth event, doing it well and encouraging fitness and overall health for the whole family.
And thanks to pros like Jarrod who take time out from their own training and racing schedules to come out and inspire the next generation.
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