The rain waited to fall until 10 minutes before the starting time of Saturday's Scenic City Youth Duathlon at Chester Frost Park, but that didn't stop the 25 tots to teens who competed.
"The kids are driven," said race director Ken Radley. "The kids want to compete. They want to go have fun. You can't play baseball in the rain, but if you could play baseball in the rain, what kid wouldn't? The fact that it's raining? That doesn't stop a kid."
The third annual duathlon, which features races in two age categories with a run-bike-run format, is one of several annual youth events promoted by Scenic City Multisport and is preceded by or follows similar adult endurance events.
The physical fitness aspects of such an event are important, according to Mr. Radley, but they are not the motivation for it being offered.
"The idea behind it," he said, "is families are traveling together to do the adult race (usually a triathlon), and they want a kid race to go with it. The kids are coming out to watch their parents, and they're like, 'All we can do is watch?' So we're providing them an opportunity to compete also. The parents love it because they get to see their kids."
The duathlon, for ages 12 and under, requires a three-quarter mile run, a 3.5-mile bike ride and a second three-quarter mile run. The race, for ages 5 and under, calls for a 75-yard run, then a 150-yard bike ride and a second 75-yard run.
The reason for the run-bike-run format, according to Mr. Radley, is both to add some variety and because of the strategic importance of transitions.
"Part of the sport is the transition (from run to bike and bike to run)," he said. "Depending on how efficient you are, you're going to gain (over other competitors) in time. You could actually be a better runner and cyclist than your opponent and lose the race because you spent too much time in transition."
The Chester Frost layout provides hills and somewhat of a rugged trail for the competitors, Mr. Radley said, but that's intended.
"It's a challenging course, even for children," he said. "We don't make it easy for them just because they're kids. It's not easy for the parents. There's no reason for it to be easy for the kids, either. But if you look as the smiles as they're crossing the finish line, that says it all."
Saturday's race was shortened because of rain, but 25 of the 27 -- ages 3 through 13 -- who registered competed, Mr. Radley said.
"(The rain) adds a little bit of a challenge to the bike portion," he said. "You've got to be careful around some corners."
UPCOMING EVENTS* Cysco Cycles Youth Triathlon -- 2 p.m. June 13, Booker T. Washington State Park, 5801 Champion Road; includes 50-yard swim, 3-mile mountain bike race, 1-mile run; adult triathlon at 9 a.m. that same day.* Quintana Roo Booker T Youth Triathlon -- 2 p.m. Aug. 21, Booker T. Washington State Park, 5801 Champion Road; includes 1 mile run, 3-mile bike race, 100-yard pool swim; adult triathlon at 9 a.m. that same day.* Flintstone Youth Triathlon -- 9 a.m. Sept. 18, Location TBA, Flintstone, Ga.; adult triathlon follows the next day.For information, visit www.sceniccitymultisport.com or call Ken Radley at 400-6897.
Noah Cochran, 11, of Harrison won the 10-12 boys age division. He said the whole course was "pretty wet" and the bike trail "pretty rough," but he said he won his age division for the first time because he'd "become a lot better runner."
"This is the (race) I did two years ago," he said. "My dad (who participated in the Scenic City triathlon at Chester Frost Park the next day) kind of likes it, and I love to be fit. It was a cool race."
Tyler Vaudreuil, 8, of Harrison placed second in the 6-9 boys age division.
"I still had a good time, even though it was in the rain," he said. "The medals were really cool."