The 2012 season is set to start for the Triangle Multisport/Swim for Smiles youth triathlon team in March and we’re excited to get back on the road/pool. This season promises to be a lot of fun for all involved, while being educational and getting the members faster and more skilled at the same time. The emphasis will be on teaching and perfecting appropriate skills that will then be engrained the rest of their lives. In addition, we’ll cover topics such as goal setting, how to handle winning/losing, team camaraderie, as well as having guest lectures. Competing in the Swim for Smiles youth triathlon in May will be a big team race and we encourage everyone that can to participate. We look forward to welcoming you to the team and hopefully seeing everyone on the first Sunday in March!
We are incredibly proud of the work that has been done, on a volunteer basis, by Nkechinyere Nwoko of rAVe [Publications] here in Chapel Hill, NC. She spent two weeks both mapping out and re-programming a totally new website for the Swim for Smiles Foundation to officially launch our 2012 events.
In addition to a layout that allows us to better categorize what we do as a foundation, this new site also makes it easier to find ways to volunteer for Swim for Smiles events and planning in addition to integrating our Social Media better – like the new Facebook Friend Feed and Twitter Feed on the left – this is something that kids who participate in our races have been asking for.
Also, we added a section just for Education. We plan to post a lot more there in 2012. Right now, it houses our six-part video series on “How To Do a Triathlon” that’s been used by over 50 different kids’ triathlons across the country to educate their own participants on how to complete each part of a youth triathlon. We’ll eventually include a pre-race triathlon training schedule, a 5K primer (since we’re adding a 5K to our Events in 2012) and nutritional information on how to stay hydrated during a race and pre-race training.
Finally, we’ve added more information about our nonprofit youth triathlon team. It’s one of only two USA Triathlon sanctioned youth teams in North Carolina and has produced both top-3 national championship finishers as well as top-3 at World Triathlon Championship finishers, too. We have world-class coaches who are specifically sanctioned for coaching triathlon for kids and the team is open to kids 6-12 years old.
We hope you take a few moments to peruse the site and let us know what you think – and while you’re here, take a moment to register for our new monthly eNewsletter by clicking on the “Subscribe to Newsletter” links.
As you can see, you are on a totally NEW website for the Swim for Smiles Foundation. Thanks to a volunteer member of our SFS team, we’re up and running with a site that’s not only easier to navigate, provides more information about our foundation, but also integrates our Twitter and Facebook presence – something that kids who participate in our events have been asking us to do!
But, we’ve got other new things planned for 2012 as well. In addition to bringing back the USA’s largest youth triathlon back to Chapel Hill this May (May 6th to be exact), we’re gearing up for the 2012 Wacky Relay Day and SFS Summer FUNdays in July, the Greensboro Swim for Smiles @ GAC youth triathlon in September and a totally new event in December: our 1st ever 5K that’ll raise money for the Children’s wing of the NC Burn Center at UNC Hospitals.
So, we need your help. We need you to get involved. We need event “evangelists”, event ambassadors, planners and people who want to help us grow in 2012. So, if you’re interested in getting involved and being a volunteer, please contact me at: gary@swimforsmiles.org or call me at 919-868-3358. We’re 100% volunteers, so the pay’s not good, but the feeling you’ll get from becoming part of our youth-based events that raise money for the NC Children’s Hospital is simply amazing!
The Swim for Smiles Foundation is proud to announce that registration for our 6th Annual Youth Triathlon is OPEN. The 2012 race will return to Chapel Hill, NC on May 6th.
Last year’s event drew over 800 participants and was the largest kid’s triathlon in the USA. In addition, for the 2nd year in a row, we won the Endurance Magazine Award for the Best Kid’s Race in North Carolina. We are ready to accommodate over 1000 kids this year with a new course and even more fun activities pre- and post-race.
Open to kids from ages 5-18 (yes, now 5-year olds can participate), the Swim for Smiles Youth Triathlon is a USA-Triathlon sanctioned event and includes two courses for ALL levels of participants. In addition, we have a limited number of relay teams made up of kids of any and all ages (one kid will swim, another bike and the third will run the course — all relay participants and teams will do the Long Course).
Beginners should consider our Short Course triathlon that includes a 100-meter swim (in a heated pool), a 2.5-mile bike course and finishes with a short 1K (0.6miles) run. Long Course participants will begin with a 300-meter swim (in a heated pool), transition to a 5-mile bike course and then finish with a 3K run (1.8 miles). The Swim for Smiles Youth Triathlon starts at 8am and is considered an easy triathlon and it designed for all levels of youth participants.
Every finisher receives a medal and the top three finishers of each age group will receive prizes!
Swim for Smiles wants to give all our supporters, volunteers and participants in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community a BIG thanks and well wishes for the holidays. Swim for Smiles recently participated in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Holiday parade to raise awareness about what Swim for Smiles does for the N.C. Children’s Hospital and within the Triangle area.
If you participated in the holiday parade, we took tons of pictures and video. Just go to our Facebook Page! Find yourselves, tag yourselves in the photos and see all the fun we had building the float and marching the parade.
Interact with us! We are encouraged by your ideas, support and good cheer, not just during the holidays, but all year round. Watch the video from Gary Kayye below following the Holiday Parade.
If you’re interested in volunteering or keeping up with what’s going on with Swim for Smiles, check out our website and fill out our volunteer form!
At the Chapel Hill Country Club this past Sunday morning, there was a magician, inflatable play apparatus, free ice cream, a fire-juggler, face painting, thirst-quenching beverages for the taking, and even a man on stilts.Did we mention the ice cream?
Incidentally, there was also a triathlon.
Ask any of the well-over 500 young participants in the fourth annual Swim for Smiles Youth Triathlon what was the favorite leg of the three-leg, swim-bike-run competition, and it was the write-in vote for a fourth option that carried the day: “The ice cream.”
“The running was the toughest part,” said Marissa Tocci, 9, who posted a top-20 finish in the short-course triathlon.
When queried if ice cream just past the finish line qualified as the best part of the day, Tocci responded simply with a nod and a wide chocolate grin.
For women’s short course overall first place finisher Sarah Taekman, 12, the race didn’t finish until the final scoop.
“I ran straight for the ice cream stand after I finished,” Taekman said, smiling.
Those spoonfuls of frozen cream and sugar helped the medicine go down, not just for the participants, but for patients at North Carolina Children’s Hospital, the Swim for Smiles’ benefactor.
With 542 participants this year, the non-profit Swim for Smiles Foundation’s Youth Triathlon is the second-largest youth triathlon event in the country. Open to kids from ages 6-18, the USA Triathlon (USAT) event includes two courses for all levels of participants.
A short course triathlon was comprised of a 100-meter swim, 2.5 -mile bike, and a 1K (0.6-mile) run. The long course consisted of a 300-meter swim, a five-mile bike, and a 3K (1.8-mile) run.
Chapel Hill High School varsity runner Alex Werden, 16, won the males’ competition on the long course, with a final time of 29:13.1. Rebekah Greengrass, 13, of Cary won the females’ division in 37:15.5.
“It hurt today,” said Werden, who was eighth into the pool thanks to his swimming seed time but made up ground on the bike and running legs. “It was a little muggy out, but it was fun.”
Werden said he’d not been training as much in the pool this year relative to the last.
In the boys short-course event, Ryan Lonegan, 10, won with a time of 17:06.4. Sarah Taekman, 12, was the top female in the short course (19:04).
“It felt really tiring,” said Taekman, who has competed ever since the event’s inception. “I was sort of wiped out. My legs were like Jello in the run portion.”
Gary Kayye, who founded the S4S triathlon with Laura Gondek, said Swim for Smiles’ longer event was growing at a rate of about 30 more entrants a year.
“We have kids as young as 7 doing the long course competition,” Kayye noted. “They’ve done the short course so many times, they’re confident in doubling the distance.”
Redrawn lines
Both courses featured rolling hills along the run course, however, which tested most competitors. Those hills included a 70-meter uphill jaunt to the finish line.
“Some kind of sick person must’ve thought of that,” Tocci said, laughing.
After thunderstorms sent everyone scurrying from the pool for the obligatory grace period during last year’s event, storms this year came during the overnight hours on Saturday evening, leaving virtually no trace of adverse weather by race time. The rain also left no trace of race course markings on the roads.
“All I was thinking (when it rained) was that we’d spent three hours marking the course with chalk,” Kayye said, “and I had to get up at 4 a.m. Sunday to mark the course again. But that was okay.
“The first kids started showing up at around 6:00 a.m., and they already had these giant smiles on their faces. That picks you up no matter how tired you are.”
Founded on the principle of “kids helping kids” in 2005, the Swim for Smiles foundation holds multiple events every summer, traditionally including the youth triathlon and Wacky Relay Day for the Chapel Hill Summer Swim League.
All proceeds are now donated to the North Carolina Children’s Hospital, and the foundation has donated a total nearing $200,000 to local children’s hospitals to date.
“We hope to be up around $20,000 or $25,000 this year,” Kayye said.” We’re small compared to most fundraisers, but not many bring in 2,000 people to one location like this either. Bringing that many people in and out of here in 4 hours and not having injuries: that’s what I care about.”
More numbers
“The race is a lot bigger this year,” Kayye added. This year, with 540 kids (compared to 435 participants in 2009) we moved the transition area to handle that number of kids, and we also doubled the number of volunteers. It’s been a little harder to operate simply because it’s so much larger.”
Kayye also expressed heartfelt thanks to the venue host, Chapel Hill Country Club, and volunteers who made bigger numbers manageable. N.C. Aquatics Club, with 54 entrants in the triathlons, also provided a sizeable number of race volunteers.
Merchants and organizations who lined the area near the finish line were also a benefit to competitors.
“When we started, I got the bike out of the car, and the back tire was totally flat,” said boys’ short-course 13-14 age group titlist Whitaker Burns. “It was slit open, but some people from (the Bicycle Chain) helped. If they hadn’t helped, I wouldn’t have been able to do this.”
Next up
The Swim for Smiles Foundation will be back in action July 10 for the Wacky Relay Day. This event is a season-ending opportunity for Chapel Hill Summer Swim League participants to come together and raise money. Events include noodle races, pyramid relays, and parent-child relays.
As for the Youth Triathlon, Kayye said he is happy with the size and scope of the event as it is currently.
“The growth is gratifying,” he said, “but we’re also happy with where we are right now. We have another 100 kids on the waiting list. … We may go to 550 next year, but I don’t think we’ll go any higher than that. We also want a quality race where everybody’s safe.”
If there’s enough room for growth, perhaps another leg for a “quadrathlon.”
Swim for Smiles wants to give all our supporters, volunteers and participants in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community a BIG thanks and well wishes for the holidays. Swim for Smiles recently participated in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Holiday parade to raise awareness about what Swim for Smiles does for the N.C. Children’s Hospital and within the Triangle area.
At the Chapel Hill Country Club this past Sunday morning, there was a magician, inflatable play apparatus, free ice cream, a fire-juggler, face painting, thirst-quenching beverages for the taking, and even a man on stilts.Did we mention the ice cream?
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