My wife and I helped organize a kids triathlon this past weekend it was the first in the area and we had 38 racers ages 7-14. The 7-10 swam 100 meters long course, 1 mile bike, and 1/2 mile run–11-14 did double that. It was sponsored by the healthy kids coalition here in town (bowling green, ky). I was unable to attend the post race meeting (luckily for all the other people present) as they decided the swim was too long. Although none of the other volunteers or organizers have ever done a triathlon or swum themselves, they decided the “long course” was too intimidating to the kids. Next year it will be a 50 and 100 yard “short course” swim. Maybe it would be better if the kids didnt have to work at all. I was the swim coordinator (?) and did not have one kid complain to me.
The swim course is OK for kids that are not being formally trained for a triathlon, but too short if they are. The official distances in Mexico set for both girls and boys by the FMTRI (Méxican Triatlon Federation) in the age group of my two sons are:
Age-----Swim-----Cycle-----Run
9-11-----150 m-----4 km------1,000 km
12-13----300 m-----8 km------1,500 km
The swim is always in open waters and in most events in the ocean. They use the same course as Elite competitors so sometimes this includes big waves on the ocean, but there are always a good number of lifeguards on duty. I do not have at hand the times for the category of my younger son (10 y/o) as time chips are worn from the 12-13 old category (IB) and up. To give you an example, these are the times of the winner of last year’s event in Veracruz, which this year is schedulled next month.
**Swimming (300 m)= 3:47 min **
T1= 1:16 min
**Cycling (8 km)= 14:47 min **
T2= 1:53 min
**Run (1,500 m)= 5:00 min **
**Chip time= 26:06 min **
I hope this serves a reference.
Best wishes,
Sergio