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Triathlons for Tiny Runners
Follow a three-year-old around for a day, and you might feel like you’ve run a marathon. But should tots this tiny be running competitive races themselves? The New York Times is reporting a surprising new trend among parents with small children: triathlons for young children.
“What do you think about triathlons for three-year-olds?” I asked my husband, an experienced runner.
“What? Ridiculous.”
“Ri-donk-ulous,” my six-year-old agreed. “What’s a triathlon?”
A triathlon, of course, is a race with three parts — swimming, running, and biking. Adult versions can be seriously challenging, but the kids’ version is no walking the park. A 200-yard swim, six mile bike ride, and a 1.25 mile run. Kids under six have a shorter route: 25 yard swim, one mile bike ride, and a quarter mile fun run. Since racers can be as young as three, some kids do it on their tricycles and with water wings.
You’d expect there’d be a handful of athletic, race-happy parents out there who’d want their kids to try a triathlon, but they’re gaining so quickly in popularity, races are filling up faster than parents can register their children. USA Triathlon told the New York Times that their under 18 membership has risen by 36 percent in two years.
Critics have a multitude of worries: safety, especially in the water, the burnout factor of starting a kid in a competitive sport so young, and the idea that very young children are happier running around in unstructured play activities than they are in competitive races. On the other hand, we are fighting a losing battle with childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyles.
If your little one was interested in racing, would you let them try a triathlon? And do you think this is an appropriate challenge for kids under 7 or 8 years old?
Photo: zhurnaly, Flickr
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PlumbLucky commented on Sep 02 09 at 8:20 amI’m torn. If I were training for something like this, and my child *wanted* to do, I might sign him up…my Dad did 5 and 10K’s consistently when I was growing up, and I went on many of his shorter training runs (3 miles or less) with him….at age four through seven. Like I said – I’m really unsure of this one. Although I remember watching *something* about the Ironman on TV when I was pretty small and thinking it pretty cool and “can I do that?” “No honey, they don’t have those for 7 year olds”. I was bummed.
bethanysanders commented on Sep 02 09 at 8:31 amI’m with you, PlumbLucky. Our older daughter ran her first 2K at four and loved it. She’s done it every year since and wants to try the 5K. She loves to run it with her dad. We entered our younger daughter, too, at four and she walked the whole thing, picking dandelions the whole time. Some kids might enjoy it — but I don’t think any child that young should be pushed into it.
snarky mama commented on Sep 02 09 at 1:50 pmMy 4 y/o and 7 y/o have been spending long weekends at Grandma’s house, where they have befriended the 6 y/o twins who live next door. From about 8am-8pm there is a constant cycle of biking, chasing each other with lightsabers and swimming in the twins’ pool.
Granted, these days are very free-form, and as such, not at all like a triathlon. But, they are biking, running and swimming all day–in effect, training for a triathlon without even trying. I imagine both of my kids would love to try an organized race–provided there was ice cream at the end. :)
trainwithjean commented on Sep 02 09 at 3:27 pmI agree with you snarky mama. Kids are naturals when it comes to sports i.e. running, swimming, etc. I would love to see something like this in the inner-city and not just in the burbs. I think any child would love an opportunity to do what they do naturally, but it’s the parents that have to be cautioned not to push the kids too hard–like with any competition from soccer, football, hockey, even beauty pagents–parents will have the tendency to go too far. I think the tiny triathlon is a great idea non-the-less, and I look forward to seeing them in Dallas, Texas!
Manjari commented on Sep 02 09 at 4:43 pm“Ri-donk-ulous,” my six-year-old agreed. “What’s a triathlon?”
I love that!
I think I’d rather keep competition out of my kids’ exercise for now, but my first thought when I read this was that they would take such a great nap after the triathlon…
Marj commented on Sep 03 09 at 2:17 pmI’m not sure why this is more inappropriate than soccer or powderpuff football or something. I never enjoyed team sports because the competition made me feel pressured, but I did like to run as a kid. By Jr. High I was on the track team. If a triathalon or marathon had been offered to me instead of softball in grade school I’d have been delighted.
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