The first Sucre Triathlon

It’s already for a year now, that Mario Tapía asked Albert whether he could help funding a Triathlon Club. Some cyclists wanted to practise this sport. Every now and then a meeting planned or the boys
were chatting about it when they met at sport-events. However real progress was
not made. Funding a club on its
own has more in it, than you would expect. Also the facts that triathlon is
rather new here, not many people know this sport and that the “Asociación de
Natación” was not very helpful (didn’t want to give swimming water) made it all
together a bit difficult to speed up the organization.

Therefore we were pleasantly surprised when Randi, while she was jogging in the park, met Willy (swim trainer of “Octopus”) with running and cycling kids. “We are going to have a triathlon here in Sucre
within two weeks” he said with a big smile on his face. Not that he even new
the order of the different disciplines nor any rule; this didn’t affect his
enthusiasm. Of course we directly offered our support. Because it was still
holiday season the by Willy recruited swimmers (also five of club “Octopus”)
could train every morning in the park. Running their rounds and cycling on
BMX-cycles, children’s bikes and one or two on a real bike. Mario was contacted
and also the members of Albert’s cycle club to find participants.

Everybody was talking about it: in the pool, the park and the bicycle workshop of Richard. Every afternoon Albert went to Richard with our “chicos” to repair and prepare the bikes: broken rear forks
and stems were weld, completely new sets of breaks were installed, pignons were
replaced, chains were oiled and tires were fixed and of course a lot of muscle
talk. Yes they all were pretty exited.

Friday the 16^th of July a press conference was held and also the first funding-meeting of the “Asociación de Triatlon de Chuquisaca” took place. All disciplines are represented in the
board: the local swim-goeroe Willy will be the president, but also an
athletic-trainer and a cyclist are participating. Albert will be advisor and
take care of the technical committee.

The big event was there than! The first Sucre Triathlon, organized by the Bolivian Triathlon Federation, could take place. It was perfectly organized by the federation. What they could not change was the
weather. We were in the middle of the worst cold-front in whole South America
within 30 years (with many human victims and also a lot of dead cattle and
wildlife) with the coldest day Saturday the 17^th of July: the big
day for the Elites.

The first plan was to start at 08:00 in the morning. Because of the cold (4 degrees Celsius), rain (which is very unusual this time of year) and a strong South pool-wind it was suspended till 10:00
o’clock. Swimming their lanes in the 25-meter pool (the Olympic pool is still
not finished nor available) and a cycle and running-circuit around the park.

Sunday the 18^thit was the big day for “our” children and all the other enthusiastic sportsmen and women of Sucre. The Triathlon-Federation was talking about a big success, more than 100
triathlon athletes of Sucre were participating. From veteran till 8 years old, they all competed. The
selection of Sucre had only two weeks or less to train. Some even had to learn
how to swim within a week. Others never ran more than 200 meters in their whole
life and having a bike here is a luxurious possession. We can only say that all
of them gave their best and everybody did it fantastically. We are very proud
of our “chicos”, who all had good results in their categories.

It was a beautiful day, although it was terribly cold in the beginning and we ended with a dust storm, most of the time the sun was shining. The organization was almost unbolivian and we enjoyed
everything: the beautiful sport and the enthusiasm of the participants, the
parents and all the supporters. From 8 a.m. till 4 p.m. everybody was busy.

Participants of “Octopus”:

- German Torres – nine, became first in his category.

- Rene Daza – twelve, what an athlete.

- Miguel Alaca – sixteen, won of his teammates Ever en Jhonny.

- Ever Peralta – sixteen, this sprinter lost it with running.

- Jhonny Quentasi – sixteen, terribly nervous, just got a bike five minutes for the start.

Randi and Albert

Stichting Chicos de los Andes