Fast 13 yr old in OLY tri (Page 2)

That is also true.  He won't finish growing for a long time, and if he keeps up his biking he will be a serious threat when he gets a little older, not that he isn't already a threat in the race haha.

US Junior Nationals, Individual time trial - 13-14 y/o boys

Distance : 12k
Winning time: 21:14
Pace: 21mph

And that's as a standalone, not in a triathlon.

I'm on the fence.

John

Yeah, I understand it's harder for girls to stay fast as they go through puberty (especially on the run I would guess).  I think that flaming out, though, has a lot to do with transitioning from something that is fun and comes easily, to something that one has to really work at.  When you're a little kid and fast, it's easy.  When you're an older kid you have to work hard to stay fast.  If lots of hours of hard triathlon training (particularly if not on a team), at the expense of friends and other non-athletic kid distractions, becomes work, not fun, and it's over....

Brian 

Edited by famelec 2009-06-08 2:44 PM

I also had a 13 year old out there, at 78 pounds.  He came in 50/119; 3d in 19/un.  Definately no puberty yet!  My goal as a parent is for them to have FUN.   The CAL boys (men) talking to my 15 y/o, that made it fun!  More than anyone else, as triathletes, we should know that cycling 15 mph or 22 mph is going to heavily depend on the type of course.  So a relative rank is much more telling than a mph....apple and oranges.  My boys are having FUN......and that's fun to be a part of.  That, and they are kicking my a#$, so they're at the finish line cheering for me!!  

Even on a flat fast course, a 13 year old doing 22mph for a 40k in a triathlon is pretty un-worldy. Not the mention a solid 10k after.

It's not totally out of the question, but I do quesiton a few things. Young kids can suprise me with how fast they can go.

The course is rolling, smooth and rough pavement (probably equal of both).

As far as placement, there were no other 10-15 year olds in the race, so no comparison there. His bike split was 80/236 overall for the men. If he were competiting in the 16-19 AG he would have been first on the bike by over 14 minutes. If he had competed in the 20-24 AG he would have been 6th of 14.

Interesting to note, of his 15th place overall finish, 9 of the men who finished ahead of him were in the elite category. So technically he was the 6th place overall age grouper to finish.

Since he qualified for nationals, I wonder if we will see him compete there. I guess that is the best place to see how he stands up to the best competition.

Edited to add: in the 2008 Greenville Sprint triathlon (August 2008) he did the 400m swim in 5:40 (2nd fastest time), did the 15 mile bike in 42:43 (21.1 mph on a hilly course) and did the 5K in 18:19. This was on wet roads, as the tri started late due to a thunderstorm.



Edited by SuzanneS 2009-06-08 3:58 PM

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Not Funny at all. I was hoping we could at least take it to game 3 before we lost. I need football to get here fast.


-  Clemson '96

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Wow! One awesome kid.

I don't know what he ended up finishing, but we had a 10 year old do XTERRA here in Alabama a couple weeks ago.  He did the sprint, but was easily mid pack at the finish.  On the swim he was nearer the front than the back.  Very impressive - the Oak Mountain XTERRA is reasonably brutal.

I watched him run the last 1/2 mile and he was getting high fives from all the guys that were passing him (or getting passed).  Pretty cool.