RCS Triathlon Club Sweeps Great Balls of Fire Awards at Richmond Triathlons
Saturday, May 17th, 2008RICHMOND. Against competition from teams five times larger from the greater Richmond area, fifteen students and seven parents and friends from Redeemer Classical School’s Triathlon Club successfully completed their first triathlon race and in the process swept the two “Great Balls of Fire” team awards given out to the group displaying the most team spirit.
The swim, bike and run races were held at the Shady Grove YMCA in Glen Allen, VA on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1 called the Power Kids Triathlon and the Power Sprint Triathlon, respectively. Forming a triathlon club at Redeemer Classical School was the idea of physical education teacher, Amy Underwood, who had completed her first triathlon in Manassas, VA, in March 2008.
“I had been talking with the students about setting fitness goals that were challenging but achievable. I told them about the excitement of a triathlon and the opportunity to compete and was amazed to find so many students who wanted to join the race”, commented Underwood.
As part of the training for this event, Underwood organized a series of swimming, cycling and running clinics on Saturday mornings through April and May at the RMH Wellness Center and at Redeemer Classical School’s campus in Keezletown. In addition to actually training, Underwood taught the students about nutrition and preparing for transitions between each event.
Underwood continued, “I wanted the students to see that difficult goals are achievable if you work hard and encourage one another.”
What the students were not expecting was the recognition for their efforts as a team during the awards ceremonies after each race. According to Richmond Multisports race director, Laurie Mehler, the Great Balls of Fire Award is not given to the team with the largest number of participants, but to the team displaying the qualities of sportsmanship and the most enthusiastic support and encouragement for fellow team members. Mehler announced, “there was no question that the team best displaying these qualities is Redeemer Classical School from Harrisonburg.”
The Power Kids race consisted of two different age brackets and distances for students ages 5 – 8 and 9 – 14. Distances for the younger children were 50 m swim, 1.8 mile bicycle, and 0.5 mile run and the older children were 100 m swim, 4.8 mile bicycle and 1.1 mile run. Redeemer had 2 students in the 5 – 8 category and 12 students in the 9 – 14 category. Seven adults and one student competed in the Power Sprint Triathlon with distances of 300 m swim, 12.4 mile bicycle and 3.1 mile run. There were 180 participants in the Power Kids Triathlon and 420 participants in the Power Sprint Triathlon.
Individual awards were also given out by age category for each race and four participants representing the Redeemer Classical School Triathlon Club received awards. Joseph Bannister of Penn Laird and Aaron Stapel of Harrisonburg received 1st and 2nd place in the male 13-14 year old category in the Power Kids Triathlon with times of 35:43 and 35:47, respectively. Laura Ann Leaton of Mt. Crawford and Rene Leetun of Weyers Cave each received 2nd place in the female 12 – 14 and 45 - 49 age category with times of 1:20:04 and 1:20:56, respectively in the Power Sprint Triathlon. Complete race results for the Power Kids and Power Sprint are linked.
Other participants in the races were:
Power Kids ages 5 – 8: Rebekah Augustine (Bridgewater), Seth Stapel (Harrisonburg)
Power Kids ages 9 – 14: Rachel Augustine (Bridgewater), Micah and Noah Fuster (Waynesboro), William and Charles Leaton (Mt. Crawford), Drew Patton (Mt. Crawford), Anna, Ian and Matthew Slater (Harrisonburg), Mariah Stapel (Harrisonburg), Becky and Jerry Underwood (Harrisonburg)
Power Sprint: Brian Augustine (Bridgewater), Marco and Tiffani Fuster (Waynesboro), Elizabeth and John Leaton (Mt. Crawford), and Amy Underwood (Harrisonburg)
Richmond Multisports was founded to organize multisport endurance events in the Greater Richmond area. There are seven events sponsored by Richmond Multisports for the 2008 season.
