Let's see some pics man!!!

Grogan told me Kimberly was working this event, but I didn't think much of it. I mean, kids racing? Where's the fun in that? I am kicking myself now for thinking these rotten thoughts and missing out on all the fun. I'm going to shadow Tom Z. from now on, because he knows where the fun is.

Hey dre, you showing up to the Smackdown on Friday? Grogan said he'll spot you a couple minutes...

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I'm sure you can find them on Brightroom or ASI... always cute to look at the kiddos...

Yup. Either they love it or they hate it. It's cool to see them wear their emotions on their sleeves.

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Working the Sara Lee IronKids Bread Triathlon Series has been a hoot. Some of those little kids can really motor and the sport is going in the right direction.

Bike companies have missed the mark big time on an untapped market...parent's wallets.

I might make the Smackdown if I can shift around my schedule a bit...I think whatever amount of time KJGrog spots me won't be enough to hold him off.

Dre

BottomFeeder is kind of a weird call sign. Wouldn't Lobster or AlaskanKingCrab be better?

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

"I think whatever amount of time KJGrog spots me won't be enough to hold him off"... Reverse smack talk! I like it. Let's see what Grogan has to say about this.

I hope you can make it man. Sorry about the weird date. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) we'll choose a more conventional date.

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Zipps? Lets seem `em!!!

One of the Zipp + Javelin bikes came from Atlanta to "smack the Central FL kids in the butt." One of my campers from this past summer got out of the water ahead of the ATL kid, but had his little kick-stand, fat wheeled, rusty bike and came back at least 10 min after the kid from the 6 mile bike ride. My camper took off on the run like a little champ, great athlete and his parents are going to try to scrape together enough money to get him a fast bike.

There is nothing like seeing kids race without a care in the world. Nina Kraft and Swen Sunberg were out volunteering with huge smiles on their faces as they watched the wonderful world of kids racing.

BF you did miss alot by missing this event.

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http://www.GearforMultisport.com

That's a really pathetically small field for a kids triathlon. What have they done to that series?!?!?!

Yeah, it's sad. Only 58 kids at, of all places, the National Training Center in Clermont, FL!!! We get more than that at kids' tris here in my hometown and it's about as much of a triathlon black-hole as a city can be ;-)

When my kids were racing there were over 500 at the Austin race (and between 300 and 500 at almost all the others), and from what I can remember over 30 kids in each of their age groups! For whatever reason Stan Tucker is no longer the director of the Austin race, and along with National Director Phil Fratesi he's a huge part of why the Austin race was so large and well-run. We'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks when they have the one in Austin.

I was looking at the results for the first few races and it looks like many of the regular families didn't participate. I'm guessing when the series didn't happen in the Summer many thought that IronKids had ended for good. To me it won't be the same without Phil Fratesi, but I heard that the McDonald's are still on board and they're really good people. I hope they're able to turn it around next year because it's a wonderful program.

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/

The Sara Lee Company decided to fund the IronKids Bread Series in late August of this year. By then, Phil had his plate full and could not run the series. Neal of Event Tech asked me in early Sept. if I could put together 6 races starting in Oct. and ending in December. I did not think it was possible, but I contacted RD's that might be able to pull off a race and started planning a series.

Within 4 weeks I had contact Local Race Directors in Atlanta, Panama City Beach, Austin, San Diego and Tempe. The six RD was myself in Clermont.

We had to stay south with the races for warm weather. The marketing for the series started in Sept. and we had just under 300 in Atlanta. PCB had just under 100 and we had about the same in Clermont.

Next week we will have around 300 in Austin and we expect about the same numbers in San Diego and Tempe.

Andrea Fisher is our Local Race Director in Austin. She contacted Stan about helping out with the race. She has done a great job of planning the event and has the support of a number of Austin triathletes. I think it will be a wonderful event.

This is the 25 anniversery of the IronKids Series and we are just happy to be presenting it this year. We hope that Sara Lee will be able to committ to the series early next year, so we can go back to presenting races in the summer when alot more kids can participate.

Go to www.ironkids.com for more information on the series. Z

http://www.insidetri.com/news/fea/2930.0.html

http://www.insidetri.com/news/fea/2932.0.html


Read the above articles and try to follow the dates and see what is possible for a series. That might shed some light on the numbers. Don't forget to factor in football, soccer, swim meets and everything else that comes before triathlon this time of year. These kids get the red carpet treatment and hopefully the series will continue to get support from parents, kids and sponsors.

Dre

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Throughout the Winter and Spring of 2004-2005 I spoke frequently with both Phil and Stan about the Sara Lee situation and the future of IronKids. I'm glad you were able to resuscitate the series where truly "every finisher is a winner".

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/

We were very surprised when they decided to go ahead with the series. Sara Lee has supported Kids Triathlon for 25 years and we hope they continue for another 25!

Come on out to the event in Austin on Sunday. We'll have a good number of athletes and hopefully some good weather for racing. Z

It looks like y'all have done great work on short notice.

Unfortunately my kids play on select soccer teams in the Fall and they have a tournament that weekend that is obligatory so they can't make it. We usually got around fifteen kids from here to go up and race so I'll get the word out to their friends and classmates.

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/

A quick google search shows that the largest kids triathlon in the US is the MiracleKids Triathlon in Minnesota. Around 700 kids and raised around $100,000 for charity. Maybe they should change their name to WonderKids and get Wonder Bread to sponsor the race....

I am so confused. All this psychology is messing up my already messed up mind for the "Smackdown".

I bet most of the bikes from the "old" IronKids are from their proud dads, before dad got a Cervelo P3C or a QR Lucero. That explains the number of Trek's

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