First off, we had one of our dads ride in the Triple Bypass and unfortunately, went down while descending. He came in all battered and bruised but still made it to the race to cheer on the team. Next up was one of the most freakish things I have ever witnessed.
We were having a team dinner at the park and some serious weather came in quickly. With that came extremely powerful wind gusts. As we were walking to our cars, I looked over toward the IronKids expo and registration tents and saw one of the tents take off and start blowing down the field. The next thing I see (literally about a split second later) was it hitting one of our athletes, McKenzie. Her dad saw it coming so he stepped in front of it trying to shield her but she still got hit with the tent right in her forehead. We all went running over and ran her over to the fire station which was right across the street, luckily.
They gave her some ice and sent her off with instructions to not sleep longer than 30 minutes that night (the night before the race). Here I was thinking that she wouldn't race but a tent flying through the air smacking her in the head obviously did not deter her. She was at the race start the next morning all ready to go. I am proud to announce that she completed her first triathlon!
All in all, it was a great weekend. She was okay which was our first concern. Out of the 13 athletes we bro
ught, 3 did their first triathlon and another 3 qualified for IronKids Nationals in October. Kids that TRI also took home 3rd place team honors which is quite an accomplishment considering this was our second official race as a team.
After returning home, I talked to my oldest son who competed and asked him if he knew what my proudest moment as a coach was during the weekend. He said, "dad, it has to be us taking third place as a team or qualifying three for nationals". I said, "nope, son my proudest moment was McKenzie completing her first triathlon". I could see the lightbulb turning on over his head as I said this as he learned a very valuable lesson.
Kids that TRI: Inspiring youth through the sport of triathlon.
This is one reason I have been put on this earth. Until next time...
Coach Bob
coachbob@teamemc.com
www.teamemc.com
