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Kids of Steel 25th anniversary

The St. Albert Kids of Steel turns 25 with 240 triathletes confirmed for Sunday’s celebration.
Kids of Steel
Kids of Steel

The St. Albert Kids of Steel turns 25 with 240 triathletes confirmed for Sunday’s celebration.

“We certainly look forward to the young athletes swimming, biking and running their very best on Sunday and coming back year after year,” said Wietske Eikelenboom, KOS race director for 20 years.

“As all the volunteers and parents will attest, seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces and observing the smooth running of the event provides the greatest satisfaction and makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

KOS represents the developmental stream that promotes fun, participation and skill development in youth who compete in triathletes as part of an active lifestyle.

The St. Albert KOS starts at 8 a.m. at Fountain Park Recreation Centre and the last swimmers start racing at 10:30 a.m.

Youths from four to 19 compete as individuals or with a team on a swim-bike-run course that varies in distance according to age group.

Teams are divided into Grades 1 to 3, 4 to 6 and junior/senior high school divisions.

The junior elite (16 to 19) and U23 (20 to 23) divisions consist of the 750-metre swim, 18.4-kilometre bike (draft legal) and five-km run.

KOS participants are members of the Alberta Triathlon Association.

Last year 106 females and 135 males and six teams completed the KOS, hosted by the St. Albert Triathlon Association.

The stars of the show are “a very strong core of great, reliable volunteers who return to make the race a success again and again,” said Eikelenboom.

Among the legion of KOS volunteers are Jerry and Jan Moran, who provided assistance when their son was 13 and after a brief hiatus returned to help out when their grandchildren started racing.

Masters swim coaches’ Annalee and Hugh Woollam are longtime volunteers as the lap counters for each swimmer from their pool deck positions.

“One of the hardest jobs, however, must be the volunteer coordinator, drumming up over a hundred volunteers for the triathlon,” Eikelenboom said.

Sheila O’Kelly, a visionary in the sport, started the first St. Albert KOS in 1992 before becoming an instrumental force organizing national and world championships and the ITU world series races in Edmonton.

“She is still the key person in the area who put Edmonton triathlon races on the world map,” Eikelenboom said.

At the inaugural KOS, Eikelenboom handed out cups of water at an aid station with two toddlers in tow, while pregnant with her youngest daughter.

“The triathlon has been a family affair. My three daughters started competing at an early age in Kids of Steel races and two of them eventually in the draft legal junior races. They continued on to volunteer for the race and are still involved if at all possible,” said Eikelenboom.

She was the registrar for the 1996 race and was asked by O’Kelly to become the race director the following year and hasn’t looked back.

“I enjoy continuing to volunteer because I want to give back to this great sport and the community as a whole and because I have enjoyed racing myself for many years,” said Eikelenboom, who has been racing triathlons since 1984 and is an elite level age-division cross-country skier and runner.

Visit www.stalbertkidsofsteel.com for more information on Sunday’s event.

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