Jersey Shore's First Kid's Triathlon A Success

It was hot!  I mean flat out oven-hot yesterday for the Jersey Shore Kid's Triathlon.  Over 50 kids challenged themselves and the elements.  Race organizers prepared for the event as best they could, in light of the heat, and will be detailed throughout the blog.  This event NEVER could have happened without the participation of volunteers.  Additional pictures can be viewed here.
Below is a pictorial of the event just to give you an idea of the flavor of the evening.  Click on pictures to enlarge.

Bike area where kids/parents placed bikes.  Normally, the sock and shoes would be placed here but it was to hot for the kids to run over the pavement.  The clothing transition from the swim to run would take place in the Jersey Shore pool area.

Jersey Shore Mayor Dennis Buttorf set up his 1970's shag carpeted motor home to serve as the registration table.  This is where kids picked up their colored t-shirts (depending on age group) that also had the timing chip on it.

To see more click read more below

While volunteers were running around getting last minute things prepped, the racers did the only logical thing to keep cool- jump in the water.

Pictures of swimming can be viewed here.  The swimming leg consisted of 25 yards for the 7-9 year olds, 50 yards for the 10-12 year olds, and 100 yards for the 13-14 year olds.

Once done swimming, the kids exited the pool area and headed for their bikes.

Bikers had to run their bike out to the road.  They could not mount their bike in the transition area. The route was out in town. 

to the left, a wave of 7-9 yr old racers exit the parking
area while on the right, another wave comes into
the transition area to get ready on the run.

The bike route is in orange.  How many loops of the bike route a racer had to complete depended on the age of the racer. It was.71 miles for the 7-9 olds, 1.24 for the 10-12 yr olds and 1.77 for the 13-14 year olds.

Safety was of utmost concern to race organizers.  Note the picture below of just one intersection on the bike route.  Volunteers swarmed all over the route to keep traffic out and an eye on racers.  Throughout the picutres you will notice that the volunteers are the one with yellow vests.



Once off the bike the kids had one more leg of the event, the run.  To take into account the hot weather, the running was shortened for each age group.  Each racer, depending on age, had a certain distance to run.  See map above.  The kids were originally suppossed to run the following;  the red running line is about .44 miles (7-9 yr olds), the yellow is .54 miles (10-12 yr olds), and the purple is .78 miles (13-14 yr olds).

Several mist stations were set up along the way to cool runners down.

With the end in sight, racers crossed the finish line where they were promptly handed an ice cold bottle of water.

There was a medal ceremony where each kid received a participatory medal followed by the giveaway of several door prizes.

Parents checking out times and placings of thier kids in the event.

Below is a picture of Jersey Shore Summer swim team members that participated in the triathlon