Kids’ triathlon held in Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge native Lydia Ditmer, cheered on by her family, sprints to the finish line during the Atomic City Kids’ Triathlon. (photo:Ken Leinart )
Muna Rodriguez, owner and race director for Personal Best Racing, said that this is the sixth year doing the race.
“We usually do it twice a year and have quite a few families travel in from other states,” she said. “This year, we only had about 30 kids, which is a bit less than we usually have. Our average is between 50 and70, but there was a lot of COVID spillover going on, so a lot of families contacted us saying they wouldn’t be able to come because of baseball tournaments and so forth.”
Noah Rile and Emma Cook won the longest race of the day for the boys and girls, respectively, while James Clary and Ada Miller won the race for the middle age bracket. The shortest race of the day, called the Tadpole race, isn’t scored.
“We let them use water wings for the swim and training wheels for the bike,” Rodriguez said. “It’s for really young kids, and mostly we just want them to feel comfortable so they can move up to the other divisions as they get more experienced.”
The race was sponsored by National Fitness Center, and Personal Best Racing will be hosting another race this Saturday, called the Secret City Sprint Triathlon. That race will take place at the Oak Ridge pool, starting at 7:30 a.m.