Can we do a tryathlon in real life?
What a great day it was yesterday, as thousands of our budding young triathletes took part in the Weetbix TRYathalon in Hastings!
It was impressive on many levels, but probably none more so than that so many children were able to get their own hats and goggles on without not much help, swim some lengths, get out of the pool without their poor parents yelling at them for half an hour that it’s time to go, dry themselves without shivering and yelling for food, get some shoes on without crying, jump on a bike, drop the bike just like they do on the front lawn and then sprint to the finish.
If only they’d do that in real life every day after school would be just like a TRYathalon, although sometimes come 7.30pm I feel like I’ve competed in one.
My one and only attempt at donning lycra was another cerealsponsored event. Twelve years ago, I put on my Special K t-shirt and took part in a very small duathlon.
The kind of event that any professional athlete would do on their ‘rest’ day. A little bike ride on the windy Wellington foreshore and then a little wee trot to the finish line. It took me months to train for and over an hour to complete, but boy did I feel ‘special’ and not really o-K!
The only good thing about the event for me was in the name, a duathlon. While I love swimming, I usually just love it in a beautifully warm salt water pool with a swim-up bar.
I don’t do swimming in the sea as I’m liable to get eaten by anything that lurks there. In my head even in the shallows I could get eaten by a barracuda. So a duathlon was the perfect fit.
You’re probably surprised therefore to hear that I’m not actually in training for the adult version of the Weetbix TRYathalon, and that’s the Tremains triathlon. It’s a huge event for Hawke’s Bay, and one that upon moving here six years ago, I was really looking forward to. Unfortunately with my radio job, I will be at the triathlon, but working there instead on the microphone with my just as fit and sporty co-host Adam Green.
We’ve both spoken about what a shame that is that we can’t actually compete but we will be there with many words of encouragement for those that do, and I’ll be on barracuda watch!