Park District Triathlon a Success

One ran part of her race without shoes, another swam an extra half lap. And another entered the day before and really did well.

Who says that kids' athletics aren't anything but interesting.

The Park District of Forest Park's first-ever kids triathlon Saturday attracted more than 40 youngsters from all over the area.

And a pair of classmates from St. Luke's School in River Forest captured first place in their respective divisions in the first-ever event.

Maddie Berni came in first in the 11-14 group for girls and Colin Stelmach captured first in the same group for boys.

They got a trophy that they proudly showed off as parents took photos and congragulated them.

Maddie, a contestant in other triathlons, attributed her win to her bicycling prowess. Tired, but beaming, she was happy with her time of 35:44. "I did good," she said.

Colin admitted screwing up in the swimming but made up his time in the biking part of the competition. "I swam an extra half a lap. Don't know how I did that," said Colin, whose combined time was 30:54. "Still I did good."

And no they didn't train together, they said.

Jack Sichlau, 11, of River Forest signed up the day before the event and came in second in his division. A basketball and lacrosse player, Jack just wanted to see what it was all about.

"My dad did triathlons and thought maybe I should try this one," he said. "Really had fun."

Even though she ran without shoes after losing one during part of the running competition, Mollie Adams still kept going placing third in the 7-10-age girls division with a combined time of 18:35.

"I practiced with my dad, I think that's why I did so well," she said.

Each competitor got a medal. But if the park district gave out an award for the biggest contingent it would have gone to Natalie Tejada, 9, of Chicago, who had almost a dozen family and friends cheering her on with signs. Natalie picked up a few tips on triathloning by paying attention to what the Olympic competitors did.

"I watched how they got on their bikes and didn't drop them," she said.

Here are the winning times in each division and the names of all of the competitors with their combined times:

11 to 14 year-old boys:

1st - Colin Stelmach, 30:54

2nd - Jacob Sichlau, 32:56

3rd -  Lukas Preuhs, 36:11

11 to 14-year-old girls:

1st - Maddie Berni, 35:44

2nd - Abigail Murphy, 44:23

3rd - Mayumi Pascual, 47:01

7 to 10-year-old boys:

1st - Grayson Lyons, 16:48

2nd - Dayton Gaughan, 17:19

3rd, - Lincoln Scheer, 17:21

7 to 10-year-old girls:

1st - Emily Sanchez, 16:10

2nd - Ava Skelton, 16:44

3rd - Mollie Adams, 18:25

The competition included:

Abigail Barattia, Nathan Blazenko, Matthew Bulava, Norman Carroll, Jaxon Entler, Madelyn Entler, Emily Finke, Moira Ford, Nora Ford, Garrett Foy, Dylan Fu, Jane Hanneman, Jalan Henry, James Hobson, Charles Hoehne, Jr., Connor Hoehne, Gus Kyritz, Taja Martens, Claudia Mateo, Matthew Murphy, Martina Perez, Raphael Preuhs, Jovanis Prodanich, Emily Sanchez, Adrian Sandoval, Jocelyne Sandoval, Sadie Sheer, Lydia Scheidler, Jacob Sichlau, Nicolas Speziale, Natalie Tejada, Elia Ton-That, Jaxon Toppen, Jeremy Yakes.