“What’s a triathlon?”  The kids from WickedFast Triathlon Team have answered this question over and over, but that’s all right with them.  Participating in this fast paced, exciting, dynamic multi-sport is giving these kids a fantastic opportunity to learn many skills, improve techniques and learn life skills by competing and training in the exciting sport of triathlon.  “My friends at school don’t understand what a race is like.  I’m always explaining, it’s swimming, biking and running all completed one after the other.  They think, that’s not so hard, until I tell them how far we go, how hard you push and how long it takes without stopping.  Then they start to get it”, says Claire Ruth, an 8^th grader at The Classical Academy and an athlete with the WickedFast team.   Youth triathlon is seeing tremendous growth.  According to USA Triathlon, the governing body of the sport, youth membership grew 36% from 2006 to 2008, with now over 22,000 registered youth triathletes nationally.

The WickedFast Triathlon Team in Colorado Springs, was selected to be a USA Triathlon High Performance team in 2010 and consists of almost 30 athletes between the ages of 7 and 19.  The team provides year-round and seasonal training.  Athletes compete not only in Colorado, but across the country and even internationally.  WickedFast triathletes gave an impressive performance at the 2009 Ironkids race series.  They took 20 kids to the race in Avon, CO.  Eighteen of the athletes qualified to compete at Ironkids National Championships in Tucson, AZ where the team commanded the race with 17 top 10 finishers, 8 of which finished in the top 3 of their divisions.

While winter provides a break from the competition for most triathletes, WickedFast is taking a group of athletes to Costa Rica to participate in the Condovac Triathlon on February 27 and 28, 2010 where they will compete against other youth and junior triathletes from all over Central America.  Building on associations with the Costa Rican Federation and their athletes who trained with WickedFast last summer in Colorado, these kids are experiencing a level of International competition rarely seen in youth sports.

WickedFast teammates Madison Cooper and Michael Dove, both 8^th graders at Mountain Ridge Middle School in District 20 are looking forward to the Costa Rica race, with it’s 400 yard ocean swim, followed by a 12.5 mile bike ride up the Costa Rican mountainside, and finally finishing with a 3 mile run on the beach.  While their competitors have been practicing outdoors on their home terrain and climate, the WickedFast kids have been training here in Colorado often indoors during the winter weather.  “We practice outside when we get a chance, running at Monument Valley Trail or on the track at Colorado College, but most of our biking has been indoors at Bicycle Village working on the bike trainers.  We’ve been swimming a lot with our swim teams which will help, sometimes having two practices a night,” says Cooper.  The WickedFast coaches, Michelle Cox and Alan Ley, design training sessions to prepare the young athletes to compete, with at least three triathlon specific training sessions each week.  In addition, most of the athletes swim on competitive swim teams getting in several more practices.  Dove explains his average weekly practice schedule,  “Monday, swim, Tuesday, tri, Wednesday, swim, Thursday, swim, Friday, tri, Saturday, we rest, and Sunday, is tri practice”.

During the summer outdoor practice is easier, as the great Colorado weather is usually helpful.  The triathlon team can be seen at the criterium course in Memorial Park, and even taking their shoes off and putting their feet into Prospect Lake to practice their transitions from the water to the bike.  On the weekends, the team gets together for a group ride and practice at the Air Force Academy.  Through the winter, keeping the training going at a high level is difficult.  Getting the kids outside after school for practice when it gets dark so quick makes outdoor training hard.  But, thanks to the support of Bicycle Village, who lets the team use their indoor training room, the team is working hard on the bike trainers and building up their fitness levels year round.

When you ask the kids about why they do triathlon, you will get a variety of answers, but the general consensus is they do it because it is fun and they love their coaches.  Coach Cox is a USAT level 1 Coach and has been coaching triathlon and swimming for over 10 years.  She coached her teams to third and second place finishes at USAT Youth and Junior National Championships in 2008 and 2009.  She is a competitive age group triathlete and qualified to race for Team USA at the 2009 World Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.  Coach Ley is a USAT level 3 elite coach and has been a part of the last three Olympic triathlon programs working with many other coaches and athletes.  Now working for the International Triathlon Union as the Sport Development Manager, Coach Ley has been working with the sport for over 25 years.  He also qualified and competed in the Hawaii Ironman 7 times.  The caliber of coaching these kids are receiving is truly impressive.  Growing up in Colorado Springs can provide a great advantage for kids in youth sports, where there are so many world-class athletes, coaches and trainers, the USOC and the governing organizations that support the sports in town.  The WickedFast team has been visited by Olympic triathletes Hunter Kemper, Sarah Haskins, Andy Potts and World Champion Timothy O’Donnell, to give them encouragement, motivation, answer questions, and help with training suggestions.

Coach Cox says that triathlon is a great sport for kids because it involves what they naturally like to do.  They like to be with their friends, be active, have fun, and feel like they’re doing something special.  Taking things kids already want to do, teaching them ways to enjoy a lifetime of fitness and giving them the skills to be competitive is her passion.  “Creating opportunities for kids to learn about life through sport, feel like they belong to something, and have success and achievements gives them confidence and skills that will serve them throughout their lives” explains Cox.  The WickedFast team has two levels of training available, in an effort to individualize the program to the needs and goals of the athletes.  There is a competitive and a high performance option of participation.  “Some of our athletes are working to train and race at the high performance level while others are here to learn about triathlon, have fun, and train or race at a competitive or less performance based level” says Cox.

And the kids will tell you there is nothing like the feeling of finishing a race.

Another benefit of pursing a multi-sport like triathlon is that it works your whole body, reducing the repetitive motion injuries seen in kids who commit many hours to training in a single sport, like runners and swimmers.  This benefits the lifestyle aspect of triathlon by keeping athletes healthy and fit enough to continue competing throughout their life, which is one of the goals of the WickedFast team.  “Alan and I are both very committed to long term athlete development.  Above all, we want the athletes to have fun being fit and healthy for the rest of their lives” Cox explains.

For more information about the WickedFast Youth Triathlon Team, visit their website at www.wickedfastri.com or call Michelle Cox at 719-291-6540.