Bolts of lightning
Boca youth challenge promotes fitness, aids local charity
Youth club members endure in regional triathlon.
Although it ultimately comes down to individual performance, Parkland’s Hannah Fowler enjoys the support of her teammates on the South Florida LightningYouth and Junior Triathlon Team.
Fowler, 12, was one of a dozen members of the Lightning squad that competed in the recent Boca Rat on Youth Triathlon at the Peter Blum Family YMCA. The inaugural event featured 123 athletes ranging in age from 5 to15.
“I just love training with the team and I love the competition,” saidFowler, whotook first place in the Girls 13-14 Division. She is no stranger to triathlons, having been involved in the sport for seven years.
Competing in the triathlons can be “scary,” Fowler said, but she relishes the opportunity to take on obstacles. The sixth-grader at Pine Crest School has also done well at the national level, finishing runner-up last year and third the prior year in the overall rankings in her age group.
Fort Lauderdale’s Anderson Albury,10, enjoys the bicycling phase of triathlons the most. Competitors begin with swimming, and then proceed to cycling before closing out the event with a run. Distances vary based on age group.
“Triathlons are fun and exciting,” said Albury, a fourth-grader at Potential Christian Academy in Cooper City. “I like all the competition, but the biking is the best.”
Albury, who achieved runnerup recognition in the Boys 11-12 Division, said he wanted to give the sport a try after watching his mother, Dana, compete in the Ironman nearly three years ago.
Coral Springs’ Gus Cohn placed first in the Boys 15-17Division
The 15-year-old freshman at Pompano Beach High School, used to play basketball and football but eventually turned to triathlons.
“I think [triathlons are] fun,” Cohn said. “It’s three sports in one and you don’t get bored. Seeing yourself get faster is probably the most fun out of everything.”
Cohn convinced his cousin, Coconut Creek’s Anthony Herrera, 11, to give triathlons a try.
“It is not that important to win,” said Herrera, a fifth-grader at Winston Park Elementary School. “It is just important to have fun anddoyour best. I like running the most because that is what I am best at and that is where I pass the most people.”
Race director Lacey Chimienti was pleased with the turnout and hopes to have another race in August.
“I thought it went really well,” Chimienti said. “I was hoping for at least 100 [participants] and we exceeded that.”
Chimienti said triathlons are an attraction to athletes because of the variety of sports and also the fitness factor.
“I grew up playing soccer, but soccer is not one of those sustainable sports,” she said. “You can do triathlons throughout your life. It is a big draw...and it’s also a good thing for kids who don’t do team sports.”
She said the Boca Raton Youth Triathlon was also for a good cause as all of the proceeds went to the Children’s Tumor Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding effective treatments for people suffering with ne uro fib roma to sis. The infliction causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body and can lead to blindness, bone abnormalities, cancer, deafness, disfigurement, learning disabilities and excruciating and disabling pain. It affects one in every 3,000 people. The Children’s Tumor Foundation funds critical research into ne uro fib roma to sis.
Parkland’s Mitchel Zelman, 36, first became involved in the foundation’s partnership with triathlons when he raced in the Ironman Florida event in 2014.
Zelman’s 9-year-old daughter, Taliah, participated in the race. It was only her second triathlon.
“I do it because my dad does it and you can do it for fundraising and for a kids’ foundation,” said Zelman, a fourth-grader at Riverglades Elementary School. “At the beginning I try to go slowand then fast at the end. That is what I focus on. I think the best part is about it is seeing my dad’s face when I finish.”