Sig
Ep's 'Balanced Man' triathlon growing steadily
By Alice Bailey
April 29, 2009 - LOGAN | Spring has finally arrived,
and the sun shines brightly as Doug Peterson rides his
bike past the HPER building on Utah State campus. He
is training for the Balanced Man Triathlon.
"I saw my brother do one and it looked like fun so
I thought I'd start training for one." Peterson said.
"I was just looking for a triathlon to do this summer
and I saw it online. Obviously it's in Logan so I decided
to do this one first."
When Peterson came home from his mission in November,
he said he weighed 230 pounds, now with the training
he has done for this triathlon, he weighs only 195 pounds.
"I've been swimming about two or three times a week."
Peterson said. "I've biked a couple times. Not a lot
because biking is easier. I play basketball four or
five times a week every night. Just staying active I
guess."
Peterson is training with Jessica Winward, who says
she has never done anything like this before, but has
always wanted to. Though she considers this a great
opportunity, she is still a little bit nervous.
"I was on the swim team in high school," Winward said,
"so I have swimming down pretty well, but other than
that, I've never been a biker or a runner. I think I'll
do all right. I just want to be able to say that I finished.
That's my goal."
As of last week 110 people had signed up for the event,
Chris Barron, director of the triathlon, said. With
the goal that had been set in November of 150, Barron
thinks the participation will come close to what he
was hoping for.
This is the fourth year Sigma Phi Epson has sponsored
this triathlon-sprint, and the number of participants
has steadily risen each year. Barron said 90 people
signed up to compete last year, and they have already
passed that number up.
All proceeds from the event go to Youth AIDS, an organization
devoted to helping children born with AIDS, as well
as educating the world about AIDS and AIDS prevention.
Four years ago, one of the brothers in the fraternity
thought of the idea to sponsor the triathlon to support
Youth AIDS and it went from there. The route and distances
of the triathlon have changes over time, but so has
the number of participants and where they come from.
"We've actually seen, I would say, at least a third
if not half of our racers from outside the valley. So,
we're not going to have as many locals." Barron said.
He attributes this to the breadth of the advertising
campaign he and others have put together. Posters on
the triathlon were posted everywhere from Rexburg to
Provo, and other advertising was done on Facebook. Barron
said the total cost of advertisement for the event was
around $150.
"I talked to Bob Henke who is the race director for
the Top of Utah Marathon." Barron said. "He's a good
friend and I went to him for a lot of advice, and he
said the best thing to do for advertising is run a really
solid, well organized race, with good volunteers. One
that starts on time, and has good food and prizes for
the participants. That's the best thing we can do for
next year.
"So I built a lot of my game plan and strategy for
this race upon that, knowing that if this year's really
well organized, well-run, the racers are benefited,
and the course is good, and if it's a true 5K, and a
true 20K, and the pool goes smoothly, then people will
tell their friends and they'll come back and bring two
friends."
Because of all the work Barron and others have put
into the organization of the race this year, he thinks
things will go a lot more smoothly next year.
Sponsorship by local businesses has gone up a lot
this year as well, with all the prizes being donated
by companies around the valley. Prizes include things
such as massages, movie tickets, duffle bags, clothing,
and gift certificates.
Though Barron calls the experience 'awesome' and plans
on helping next year, he thinks his wife will be happy
when it is all over.
Peterson isn't so worried about the organization behind
it all, he just wants to beat his brother's time.
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