Another year of the Arden Park Youth Triathlon is in the books. Believe it or not, our team is already looking forward to next year! Please read all the way through this message for important information about the future of this great event!
We were excited to bring back the bike portion this year and return to the traditional triathlon format. This meant bringing back the huge number of volunteers it takes to make the triathlon possible. We’d like to send a huge thank you to all of you who came out to count laps, set up and tear down the course, keep the road safe for our athletes and so much more!
The triathlon also wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our local businesses. Many of these businesses come back year after year without question. Swansons Cleaners has continued their Title sponsorship from the early days of the event. Thank you, Swansons! We can not show enough appreciation for Teichert construction and Dan Gibbs. They provide all of the safety equipment needed to put on our event, free of charge! If we had to pay to rent all of this equipment it would cost us thousands of dollars. This is a huge ask and Dan has come through for us every year. If you see Dan around (and you definitely will because he’s EVERYWHERE!) please tell him thank you! Our other returning sponsors were Szymanowski Orthodontics, Little Whale Swim School, Lisa Nielsen Laptalo, DMD – Dentistry for Children, The Salvetti Group Wealth Advisors, FatCat Bakery, Jackie Malhotra, Raley’s, and Starbucks. We had two sponsors return with new companies this year, Ross Rushton with Fairway Mortgage and Dana Gray with Gray Group Real Estate. And, we had a great new sponsor join us this year and they took on two roles. Jesuit High School and Summer at Jesuit. They brought a lot of great energy and we are grateful they chose to be a part of the triathlon!
I have been so lucky to get to work with some of the most amazing people to put this triathlon together: Ron and Amy Salvatori, Mauricio Buchner, Kellie Rushton, Lisa Slaughter, DJ Waldow and Nicole Martin. These wonderful humans have been meeting, emailing and texting for nearly a year to put together a fun and safe event for 2022. It’s an honor to get to be a part of this team. Like all of the activities our children participate in, there’s a huge amount of work that goes into making it successful. I have enjoyed many aspects of being the race director. Getting to see the joy and accomplishment of so many kids has been the most rewarding, but I will always treasure the friendships made with all of those who have participated in making it happen.
While I will always be a part of making this event happen, my time as race director has come to an end. We are seeking an outgoing, enthusiastic person who can lead this team forward to next year and beyond. I guarantee you will learn a ton and have a new (or renewed) sense of pride in our community after this experience. Please reach out to me at [email protected]. This community loves this event and we want it to go on for many years. But, for that to happen, we need someone to step into this role. Rest assured that you will not be thrown into the deep end and no race director experience is necessary. I had NO idea what I was doing in the beginning! But, I was surrounded by a great team! You will be, too.
Christina Joyce
Race Director
Arden Park Youth Triathlon