Organizers treat kids to a world-class day at KOS Triathlon
Photos by Trent Dilkie

C3's race director Stewart Barclay had large dark-bags of fatigue under his eyes as the last participants crossed the finishing line Sunday at the 7th annual Caledon Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon.

After a hard week of work, and two days with little sleep, the local resident had a big smile on his face for a job well done.

"Our 200 volunteers were world-class this weekend and the feedback from the parents and kids was absolutely incredible," said Barclay.

A record number of 3-6- year-old kids participated in the event, making it the largest in Canada's history and one of the largest in the world. Well over 500 kids 3- 18 years of age participated in the local event with the proceeds of the race going back into C3's many local programs.

"We were really able to take the event up a notch this year with the help of Kinetico," said co-race director Gary Hutchinson. Hutchinson is a local worldclass age group triathlete, who celebrated his 37th birthday by volunteering for the 12-hour event.

"People complain about kids being inactive, obese and un-healthy," said former Olympic coach Barrie Shepley. "Today we saw well over 500 kids who already are great ambassadors for healthy living," said the man who started Kids of Steel 17 years ago.

The highlight race of the day was the 16-19-year-old junior championship race where C3's athletes swept the men's side (Chad Ruby, Tyler Bredschneider, Mark Bechtel) and Kerrie Ann Delaney taking silver in the junior women.

"These junior athletes all started as young kids in Kids of Steel and now have a legitimate chance to become national junior teammembers for Canada," said Shepley.

C3 is a local non-profit sports organization that works with kids and adults of all ages helping improve their running, biking and/or swimming skills. The club holds workouts 5-6 times a week in various local locations and is always accepting new members to try out the workouts. Details at www.c3online.ca or call 905-838-2662.

If you would like to see some of the 1,000+ pictures from the 7th annual Kinetico KOS race go to local sports photographer Trent Dilkie's Web site at www.trentdilkie.com.