Kidztri3 hosts the first girls only triathlon and duathlon at French Creek State Park, Elverson.
Race director Kimberle Levin, founder of Kidztri3 Youth Triathlon Series, said the June 14 event at French Creek is focused around girls only. Kidztri3 is producing the event in conjunction with Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania for girls ages 7 to 17.
‘They will compete in a triathlon, which is swim, bike, run, and duathlon which is bike, run, bike,’ said Levin. ‘Our goal is to have all girls feel like they’re an athlete regardless of their athletic ability.’
Kidztri3 seeks volunteers and sponsors and parents, friends, family, kids, and dogs are invited to the inaugural event called Girlz Tri. Du. Rule!
‘It is the first girls only Girl Scout triathlon in Eastern Pennsylvania. We have one of the region’s local female professional triathletes who will come inspire the girls. It’s the first time the Girl Scouts have ventured into an event like this,’ said Levin, expressing her excitement as well as that of Girl Scouts of Easter Pa. ‘Girls any shape, size or any athletic ability, get your swimming goggles, get your bike, get your sneakers and come and participate.’
If a participant does not wish to do a portion of the triathlon, for example someone who is not a strong swimmer, then there are open relay teams for which there can be three team members.
‘One will swim, one will bike and one will run and you participate as a team,’ said Levin. ‘There’s something for everybody.’
Levin said there is a particular reason why the June 14 event is being held at French Creek. Kidztri3 is known for ‘only producing youth events on closed courses, that means completely closed to vehicular traffic.’
There are no cars pulling out of driveways or intersections with traffic.
‘We chose French Creek because we can get a good bike loop in,’ she said. ‘Also we can shut down and not permit any vehicular traffic to come through. You know the race course is closed to any outside traffic.’
What she hopes the girls gain from the experience is when they come through the finish line, their custom medals put around their necks, that ‘they feel like they accomplished something that they probably never thought they could before.’
‘For those girls who’ve never competed in an athletic event, it’s a great start for their athletic adventure,’ said Levin.
Kidztri3, founded in 2010 by Levin, organizes youth triathlons and dualathlons in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Describing herself as a serial entrepreneur, Levin has founded about 10 companies over the past 25 years. Currently she is USA Triathlon Regional Official’s Coordinator and Ironman Head Official. She officiates races all over the country.
According to https://www.facebook.com/KidzTri3/info, ‘KidzTri3 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose goal is to inspire and motivate youth through multi-sport to develop self-confidence, physical fitness and to lead an active, positive and healthy lifestyle.’
Growing up in an athletic family, Levin wants to motivate youth to be athletic. In addition to the triathlon and dualathlon events, she wants to bring multisport to schools.
Multisport is the fastest growing sport in the United States and youth is the fastest growing segment of triathlon. It’s a becoming a big thing, said Levin.
‘With physical education going away because schools are not able to support funding of them anymore and with club sports being very expensive, so your child needs to be athletically gifted and your parents have to be able to afford to put them into a club sport, I wanted to do something for 95 percent of the rest of the kids,’ said Levin. ‘Especially with obesity issues rising in our youth, I thought if we can get our kids out, get them into something fun that is unique … bring multisport into schools where they can swim, bike, run and compete against other schools, then they too can feel like an athlete, get a little giddy up in their step when they put on their uniform and feel like they belong to something.’
Their ‘mission is to inspire and motivate boys and girls to develop self-confidence, physical fitness and to lead an active, positive and healthy lifestyle by becoming a multisport athlete,’ according to their Facebook page. ‘KidzTri3 provides an opportunity for all kids, regardless of athletic ability, to participate in an athletic event and become part of the multisport community.’
With the recent approval of the NCAA to offer scholarships for triathlon, KidzTri3 hopes to become a feeder to the NCAA and Olympic Junior Development programs.
For more about Girlz Tri. Du. Rule at French Creek June 14 and to register, visit www.GirlzTriDuRule.com.
For more information about KidzTri3, visit www.kidztri3.com.
