May 21, 2018 Dear Kids, Parents & Partners: Congratulations on your involvement in the 10 th Annual First Coast Kids Triathlon. Since 2009, more than 13,000 athletes have participated in our event, and we have some exciting plans - including a registration limit of 1,000 kids - in place to provide an even better overall experience. Most importantly, we look forward to having you join us on the beautiful Dolphin Green at Jacksonville University.
We hope you are looking forward to June 3rd as much as we are, and please remind your friends, classmates and neighbors to register today as less than 100 spots remain. It should be a lot of fun! With this in mind, we are working hard to make sure everyone is wellinformed and prepared for the festivities. Part of this effort will be a series of 3 emails (starting with this one) that you will receive between now and race day. Please take the time to read all of the details below and feel free to get back to us with any additional questions, suggestions or concerns. If we do not answer your questions in this email, it is likely we will cover them in 1 of the next 2. Schedule for Saturday Based on the positive feedback we received from our 2017 event, we are once again going to hold all races on Sunday morning. This means everyone will have packet pick-up and bike drop-off on Saturday. Please remember, there is NO PACKET PICK-UP on Race Day. On Saturday, we are asking every participant to turn-in their USAT Waiver and to pick-up their Race Packet in order to be ready to race on Sunday. Packet pick-up and transition will be open for 3 hours on Saturday, and we strongly encourage everyone to bring their bikes and to avoid the Sunday morning rush. 3:30pm to 6:30pm 4:00pm to 6:00pm 3:30pm to 6:30pm Packet Pick-Up & Transition Open Pre-Race Course Talks (every 60 mins) Race Expo Open Schedule for Sunday If you participated last year, you will be familiar with this schedule. We expect it to work well once again, and we believe it will allow us to accommodate the 1,000 participants (and 4,000 fans) who will join us. The two, distinct sessions will allow us to make race day a positive experience for everyone.
Junior Session 6:15am 6:30am 7:15am 7:20am 7:30am 7:40am 8:00am 8:45am 10:30am Body Marking Starts & Transition Opens Sunrise Service (in the amphitheater) Transition Closes (no exceptions; don't be late) Mandatory Athlete Meeting (in Amphitheater) Junior XClass Race Starts 8 & Under Race Starts 9 & 10 Year-Old Race Starts Transition Opens for Juniors to Get Stuff Junior Division Awards Ceremony Senior Session 9:00am 9:30am 9:40am 9:45am 10:00am 10:30am 12:00pm Senior Transition Opens Senior Transition Closes (no exceptions) Mandatory Athlete Meeting (in Amphitheater) Senior XClass Race Starts 11 & 12 Year-Old Race Starts 13 to 15 Year-Old Race Starts Senior Division Awards Ceremony
Volunteer & Earn $500 Usually, we stick this note towards the end of our eblast. Not this year. We cannot afford to, as we really need your help. Our safety-first event requires more than 250 volunteers, and we cannot make it without you and everyone you know. If you have any co-workers, friends or neighbors who might be interested, please direct them to the Volunteer Section of our website. Every volunteer receives a great t-shirt and cool gift. Community Service Hours are available, and we are offering a donation of $10 per volunteer to groups that bring at least 20 volunteers to help. That's right... put together a team of 50 volunteers, and you will earn $500 for your group. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to become a First Coast Kids Triathlon volunteer. Triathlon Age Rules For more than half of our participants, your triathlon age will be different than your actual age on race day. This is due to the fact your triathlon age for all of 2018 is your age as of 12/31/18 (NOT your age on race day). In other words, if you are currently 10 years old and turn 11 on July 1, 2018, you are an 11 yearold triathlete for all of 2018. This might affect your race distances. Please take a minute to re-read the above paragraph. There has been confusion in the past, and we want to try to minimize it this year. It is not a big deal for kids turning 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 or 15 during 2018. However, for those of you turning 11 during 2018 (even if you are only 10 on race day), you are now a Senior and race in the later session. If you have any questions or concerns,
please CLICK HERE to contact our Event Director. Equipment Guidelines Over the past month, we have received many emails about the proper equipment for a triathlon and the rules governing what type of bikes you can ride. For safety and insurance purposes, our event is sanctioned by USATriathlon. As a result, we need to follow their rules. While we will talk more about what to bring with you on race day in future emails, here are some of the most important equipment guidelines: No training wheels are allowed (except in the case of medical athletes). All participants must wear a helmet at all times when riding their bikes. No aerodynamic equipment is allowed. This includes no use of aero bars, no use of aero helmets and no use of full disc wheels. We will supply every participant with a color-coded swim cap. All kids must swim in their bare feet. This is a "house rule" to help keep the Jacksonville University pool clean. No flotation devices will be allowed in the pool. The kids can grab onto the lane lines and rest at the end of each lap, but they cannot use any preservers, noodles or floaties.
Huge Team Response As many of you know, one of the hallmarks of this event is our outreach effort to teams, schools and other organizations across Florida and Georgia. This year, we have 42 registered teams who will bring more than 600 kids to our event. Leading the way are teams from Loretto Road Elementary (53 kids); Jacksonville Country Day School (34 kids); Jacksonville Beach Elementary (33 kids; J Allen Axson Montessori Elementary (32 kids); and Providence School (30 kids). Congratulations and thank you to every team leader, and do not forget. There is still time to double the size of your team! Of equal importance, the incredible support of our Sponsors makes it possible for us to donate more than $6,000 back to your teams and organizations. Thank You Sponsors Everything we do (including this email) is possible because of the incredible support of our sponsors. Headlining the 2018 Sponsor Team is our Presenting Sponsor - Firehouse Subs. They have been an important part of our team since the very beginning, and everyone should go to Firehouse today to honor their commitment to the First Coast. Also, we are extremely grateful to our other 9 Sponsors, many of whom have been with us for many years. Please take a minute to visit the Sponsor Pageon
our website and to reach out to say thank you to each and every one of them. There is no better group of organizations to partner with in the country, and Jacksonville is lucky to have them as part of our community. New Course Talks In an effort to help our first-timers get comfortable and everyone get familiar with the course, we are strongly encouraging every participant (and their parents) to attend one of our Course Talks during Packet Pick-Up on Saturday. They will run every 60 minutes on the main stage, and our professional guides will explain how everything is going to work on race day; preview the pool and transition with you; and answer all of your questions. They will also discuss where you need to be at what times to take full advantage of everything going on. Please make this a part of your bike drop-off and packet pick-up plan! Once again, congratulations on your decision to be a part of the 2018 First Coast Kids Triathlon. We are proud to have you as a member of our family, and we sincerely appreciate your support. If you have any additional questions, CLICK HEREto visit our website. If the questions are not answered there, follow the instructions to contact us directly. Watch your email for our next update and get ready! Race Day is only 12 days away!
Sincerely, The 2018 Organizing Committee