Young athletes have triple the fun on day off from school

“Swimmers, take your marks — and go!” The Riverdale Y’s aquatic director Felicha Bennett called out as four young swimmers kicked off the pool wall and into the water.

On Monday, a group of dedicated young athletes spent their day off from school participating in The Y’s kids’ triathlon. 

Students ranging from age seven to 13 put their swimming, biking and running skills to the test. 

Ten minutes of continuous swimming marked the first leg of the triathlon, with some swimmers choosing the butterfly stroke and others opting for freestyle or  backstroke. 

It was seven-year-old Eden Schachner’s second triathlon. 

“She’s hoping to be on the swim team [at The Y] next year,” her father Larry Schachner said as he cheered her on at the pool. 

Lisa Bruskin, The Y’s director of fitness and wellness, organized the event.

“Besides camaraderie and friendship, they’re building a little bit of an edge,” she explained. 

While Ms. Bruskin was a marathon runner for much of her life, she competes in triathlons herself now. 

She said she wished she had begun competing as a triathlete at an earlier age, given the health benefits of cross training as opposed to marathon running, which takes a toll on the body. 

“It’s just good for [the kids] to do something different — and it’s good for them [physically],” she said. 

After swimming, students hit the gym, where they bicycled on the spinning machines for ten or 15 minutes, depending on age, and then took to the treadmills to run for the same amount of time. 

“Not bad for small people, huh?” Ms. Bruskin remarked. 

Ross Petras, 9, was the first person of the afternoon to complete his triathlon. 

“It was really tiring,” the fourth-grade student at the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) said after stepping off the treadmill. “[But] I like running — I’m really good at running.” 

“He likes to swim and run, so we figured, we’ll give it a try,” said his father Tom Petras. 

Ian Chamberlain, 10, said swimming was his favorite part of the triathlon.