Published: July 19, 2009 10:57 pm         

Larry Fleming: This triathlon is customized for youth

Excuse me, but when I hear the word triathlon it’s hard not to think of Bruce Jenner. He was a superlative athlete — an Olympic decathlon gold medal winner in 1976 — but a horrible actor whose facelifts turned him into a mess before corrective surgery allowed him to once again look into a mirror without throwing up.

But when it came to versatility in track and field, Jenner was exceptional, and that’s one reason he won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. He was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

I played a lot of playground and backyard sports in my earlier days and marveled at Jenner’s overall skills.

Long before Jenner came onto the world’s sports stage, I and a couple of my biddies — all of whom were prone to mischievous deeds at various times — frequently dabbled in a triathlon-type event, although I’m almost positive we had never heard of a triathlon at that point in our lives.

A full triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a mind-numbing marathon (26.2-mile run), with no breaks in between. Our version was something different, although it consisted of the same basic athletic challenges.

Our triathlon started with about a 3-mile bike ride from my home on Southern Parkway in Athens, Tenn., down Cedar Springs Road and onto a narrow one-lane country road for the final half-mile or so.

Arriving at our destination, we dropped our bikes into the high grass alongside the road, worked our way through a barbed wire fence and sprinted to our favorite swimming hole, and — in unison that resembled a water ballet — jumped in. Sometimes we took time to shed our clothes and hit the pool of cool but not always clear water in skinny-dip fashion.

The splishing and splashing usually lasted an hour or so, although there were occasions the watery frivolity was cut short by intruding cattle or an angry landowner. If the cows came around, they normally didn’t mind sharing the facility with us. But for some reason, the landowner didn’t cotton to us taking over the swimming hole on those hot summer days.

Despite our screaming and hollering while swimming and jumping off the creek bank for simultaneous orchestrated “cannonballs,” we could almost always hear the landowner coming toward us in an old jalopy of a pickup truck.

At that point, we would scramble out of the water and hightail it about 200 yards back to our bicycles. Occasionally in our haste we might forget a piece of strategic clothing, but that was a small price to pay for the cooling, refreshing dip we always thoroughly enjoyed.

We were good sprinters and never once did the cranky landowner catch us. Never once did he come after us, never sicced the law on us and never spoke of our transgressions to our parents.

All of this brings me back to triathlons.

The Carpet Capital Aquatics Club will hold its first Youth Triathlon on Aug. 1 at the Dalton Recreation Center on Civic Drive.

Three age divisions, with a range of distances, are planned: Junior (8-under) is a 50-meter swim, 1-mile bike ride and half-mile run; Intermediate (9-12) is a 150-meter swim, 4-mile bike ride and 1-mile run; Senior (13 -17) is a 300-meter swim, 8-mile bike ride and 2-mile run.

In preparation for the event, veteran triathlete and swim coach George News will host a two-week clinic on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week and next for those interested in competing in the Youth Triathlon. The clinic will be held at Dalton High’s pool each day from 3-4:30 p.m. with a fee of $40 for one week or $65 for two.

That’s OK, but those scaled-down triathlons I used to do were free.

I did them for fun.

News is serious about this stuff.

“I do it as a hobby,” the 25-year-old News said. “Around this area there aren’t a lot of triathlons for the younger kids, but quite a few for adults. I usually do probably 12 a year , so this is a great opportunity for the kids.”

News said he competes in triathlons in Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Several years ago a master swimmer who was training for an Ironman competition loaned News a bike to do a triathlon and his interest in the event soared. Last year, News completed the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco.

News, who works for the CCAC under veteran coach Charles Todd, said triathlons provide swimmers with outstanding cross training opportunities.

Todd said the CCAC has been interested in youth triathlons for a couple of years now. Jason Meszaros, who formerly coached with Todd, took several youngsters to smaller triathlons in the vicinity of Helen in Northwest Georgia.

“Some of them did really well,” Todd said.

When Meszaros moved on, News stepped in and kept the interest in triathlons among the younger set alive and well. Todd also said Rob Cushman and Sandra Mathis have been key figures in organizing the Youth Triathlon in August.

“Dalton needs a triathlon,” Todd said. “We hope this one goes well and next year we might upgrade it to a full triathlon. I think we’ll have competitors from all over the tri-state area. We’ve worked hard at getting the word out.

“Most people who do triathlons are college age and older. We’re trying to get a new niche started. It’s a growing sport and it is great training for my swimmers.”

Todd said some of the roads around the rec center will be closed off and the Dalton Police Department has been helpful in planning the logistics of the event. Cushman planned the course.

Now, if I could offer just a little advice to spice up the Youth Triathlon, or any other triathlon for that matter. Rent out some cattle and station those hefty bovines around the rec center pool and along the entire course.

Do that and I wouldn’t mind entering myself.

It’s hard to beat great memories.



Larry Fleming is sports editor of The Daily Citizen.

     

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