The first annual Live Well With Pharmasave Kids of Steel Triathlon takes off from Kenyon Park tomorrow.
Okanagan Falls Elementary School parents are hosting 81 athletes for an event to celebrate sportsmanship and participation by completing a swim, bike and run. Kids aged five to seven will do a 30-metre swim, 800-m bike and 250-m run. Ages eight and nine will swim 75-m, bike 1,600-m and run 800-m. Kids aged 10 and 11 will also swim 75-m, but they will bike 3,200-m and run 1,600-m. The oldest age group, 12 and 13, will swim 150-m, bike 4,000-m and run 1,600-m.
Co-race director Carrie Ferguson said the number of athletes they have registered is good.
“We’re pretty excited because it’s never been done before,” said Ferguson. “We are not pro directors, we are just parents trying to do something good for our kids.”
Ferguson said that because of the low student body attending Okanagan Falls Elementary School, there are no school sports. This is an event they can do without needing large numbers.
Kids aged five and up will kick things off at 4 p.m., with the other age groups following every 30 minutes.
To keep the athletes safe, there will be lifeguards in the water and roads will be closed to traffic. Organizers hope the community will support the event by staying off the roads between 3 and 7 p.m. at the block of Cedar Street to 7th Avenue to Main St., to 8th Avenue and back to Cedar.
Also helping out with the race is Subaru Ironman Canada race announcer Steve King and professional triathletes Jeff Symonds and Scott Tremblay.