By AdriAnna Newberry
Photos by AdriAnna Newberry, for the Redoubt Reporter. Darius “Toad” Martin won the 10-and-under age group in the Cowchip Triathlon.
For the Redoubt Reporter
The 2010 Solstice Festival at the Diamond M Ranch in Kenai opened with a crowd as light as the rain. But the misty drops did not put a damper on the enthusiasm from participants in the main event of the day.
At 1 p.m., about 10 children in various states of swimsuits and shorts grabbed inner tubes and lined up to start the second annual Cowchip Triathlon. The 10-and-under race consisted of two laps around a long pool filled 2 feet deep with water, followed by two laps around a cow pasture on bikes and finishing with a single lap run around the same pasture.
Participant Tyle Owens
Spectators gathered around the pool and cheered on all the kids as they splashed laps around the floating pink balloons used as dividers. Yellow balloons marked a pathway down to the bikes, and more balloons charted the course through the field. Some confusion resulted as the first swimmers finished when no one was certain which way to go. It was quickly sorted out with a wave to the side, and the bikers took off across the grass.
When they were partway through the first lap, probably thinking they couldn’t get any wetter after the paddle, the misty rain turned heavy. While parents and friends ducked under canopies, the children doggedly pedaled and ran to the finish line, one father running along grinning to meet his racer with a towel at the ready. The timekeepers wrote on increasingly soggy paper and did their best to shield clipboards by holding them tight in between races.
The first finisher overall was Karl Danielson. He and Chase Warren were the only registrants for the 11- to 16-year-old group and had asked to race at the same time as the younger kids. The official winner for the 10-and-under group was Darius “Toad” Martin.
The Mouth of The Kenai 