Another year of the Arden Park Youth Triathlon is in the books. Believe it or not, our team is already looking forward to next year! Please read all the way through this message for important information about the future of this great event!

We were excited to bring back the bike portion this year and return to the traditional triathlon format. This meant bringing back the huge number of volunteers it takes to make the triathlon possible. We’d like to send a huge thank you to all of you who came out to count laps, set up and tear down the course, keep the road safe for our athletes and so much more!

The triathlon also wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our local businesses. Many of these businesses come back year after year without question. Swansons Cleaners has continued their Title sponsorship from the early days of the event. Thank you, Swansons! We can not show enough appreciation for Teichert construction and Dan Gibbs. They provide all of the safety equipment needed to put on our event, free of charge! If we had to pay to rent all of this equipment it would cost us thousands of dollars. This is a huge ask and Dan has come through for us every year. If you see Dan around (and you definitely will because he’s EVERYWHERE!) please tell him thank you! Our other returning sponsors were Szymanowski Orthodontics, Little Whale Swim School, Lisa Nielsen Laptalo, DMD – Dentistry for Children, The Salvetti Group Wealth Advisors, FatCat Bakery, Jackie Malhotra, Raley’s, and Starbucks. We had two sponsors return with new companies this year, Ross Rushton with Fairway Mortgage and Dana Gray with Gray Group Real Estate. And, we had a great new sponsor join us this year and they took on two roles. Jesuit High School and Summer at Jesuit. They brought a lot of great energy and we are grateful they chose to be a part of the triathlon!

I have been so lucky to get to work with some of the most amazing people to put this triathlon together: Ron and Amy Salvatori, Mauricio Buchner, Kellie Rushton, Lisa Slaughter, DJ Waldow and Nicole Martin. These wonderful humans have been meeting, emailing and texting for nearly a year to put together a fun and safe event for 2022. It’s an honor to get to be a part of this team. Like all of the activities our children participate in, there’s a huge amount of work that goes into making it successful. I have enjoyed many aspects of being the race director. Getting to see the joy and accomplishment of so many kids has been the most rewarding, but I will always treasure the friendships made with all of those who have participated in making it happen.

While I will always be a part of making this event happen, my time as race director has come to an end. We are seeking an outgoing, enthusiastic person who can lead this team forward to next year and beyond. I guarantee you will learn a ton and have a new (or renewed) sense of pride in our community after this experience. Please reach out to me at ardenparktriathlon@gmail.com. This community loves this event and we want it to go on for many years. But, for that to happen, we need someone to step into this role. Rest assured that you will not be thrown into the deep end and no race director experience is necessary. I had NO idea what I was doing in the beginning! But, I was surrounded by a great team! You will be, too.

Christina Joyce
Race Director
Arden Park Youth Triathlon

The 2021 Arden Park Youth Triathlon: Splash & Dash Edition was a huge success thanks to a great team of volunteers, a supportive community, and eager participants!

After not getting to write a race summary for two long years I went back to some previous wrap-up letters I’ve had the privilege of writing and I felt all of the excitement and happiness I had those years rush back. It was also so great to read so many names that are still a part of our event.

Thank you to our amazing planning committee! Ron, DJ, Nicole, Mauricio, and Kellie, you all put in so much work over a short period of time when we really didn’t know what to expect. We all owe you a debt of gratitude. The founder of the APYT, Don Fonseca, came in to graciously offer his wisdom and time. Casey Martin came back as our timing official. We couldn’t have pulled it off without you two! Together we can look to the future and get our full triathlon experience back next year! If you’re interested in joining this excellent team, please reach out! We need more key people to keep this great event going in our community! Email ardenparktriathlon@gmail.com for details.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who came out on race morning ready to make it a great day! If your athlete enjoyed a fun and safe event it was thanks to the efforts of every volunteer on the course, many of whom had athletes racing as well. Your dedication does not go unnoticed!

We have the best sponsors any event could wish for. Year after year, these sponsors support our event and make it possible to get all of the items that make our event possible and so much fun. Thank you to Swansons Cleaners, Szymanowski Orthodontics, Augustine & Associates Team, RE/MAX Gold, Little Whale Swim School, and Dr. Lisa Laptalo. These sponsors also had their teams out there volunteering! Dan Gibbs with Teichert Construction supplied all of our safety equipment once again and Dan was out there both days helping set up and tear down the event! Raley’s and Fat Cat Bakery supplied our athletes with TONS of goodies and water! The Salvetti Group supplied our bibs once again. And this year we had really cool swag bags donated from Jackie Malhotra. And last, but certainly not least, we were so grateful for the ultimate fun maker, Steve Buzzard! Your top notch professionalism kept the event as fun as ever.

I hope you have as much fun looking through the hundreds of photos that were taken throughout the event as I did. So many joyful faces! A few looks of being absolutely done racing but definitely more smiles of pure joy that these athletes accomplished a big victory for themselves. And that’s what it’s all about! Bringing the community together is great. But, introducing young athletes to multi-sport racing, the benefits of an active lifestyle and the ability to overcome fear and discomfort is right at the heart of what we are trying to accomplish.

This year we tried to make the focus about getting our community back together and being active. But, some of our athletes have that competitive spirit running through them and pushed themselves to the finish with all they had. If your athlete placed in their age group, you should have received an email from me already.

We are excited to start planning the 2022 Arden Park Youth Triathlon! Save the date for August 14th, 2022. If you have thoughts, ideas, feedback or if you’d like to join our planning team, please reach out and let us know ASAP.

Christina Joyce
Race Director
Arden Park Youth Triathlon
ardenparktriathlon@gmail.com

It’s been almost two weeks since our 7th edition of the Arden Park Youth Triathlon, but the excitement feels like it was yesterday. As I think of all of the proud faces crossing that finish line, my heart fills with joy! It also fills with gratitude for all of the people that made this event go off without a hitch.

THANK YOU to all of our wonderful volunteers. Many of you stepped up when the call was put out that we needed help the day of the event. I was fortunate to have three ladies from our community step up when the call was put out early that the event was in danger of not happening because there weren’t enough people to plan. Cassie, Sylvia and Hester, thank you for your willingness to help! This event is simply not possible without the support of our community. Please consider joining in on the planning fun for next year. Plans are already under way. Email me at ardenparktriathlon@gmail.com for details!

I can’t say enough about our amazing sponsors. You all seriously brought the fun this year! Swansons Cleaners, Szymanowski Orthodontics, Chalmers Dental, Little Whale Swim School, Lisa Nielsen Laptalo, DMD – Dentistry for Children, The Salvetti Group – Wealth Advisors, Augustine and Associates, J.K. Groves Real Estate Group, MBK Engineers, Starbucks (Watt & Fair Oaks), Yo-Yo Yogurt, Bel-Air at Eastern and Arden, thank you for your continued support of this event! Our course was made and kept safe again this year by the equipment generously donated from Teichert Construction. The delicious cookies and breakfast bars were donated again by Fat Cat Bakery. And, who doesn’t love the sound of that familiar voice…Steve Buzzard rocked this event, again!

This year we had a few new sponsors, Ross Rushton, Loan Officer with Big Valley Mortgage, The Niello Company, and California Family Fitness (Watt). Thank you for joining the APYT family and helping to make this event so successful! We hope to have you all back next year! Performance Bicycles – Howe Avenue was there again this year to help with any bike repair needs. I got a chance to go over and thank the gentleman that came out to work the event. He’s not from our local store, but still close by. He was in awe of our event. He told me that it reminded him of when he grew up in a small town where families would go out and just be together being active, cheering on their friends and enjoying life. The excitement he showed about our event warmed my heart and gave me a great sense of pride for our community. We all came together to make this awesome event happen for our children.

I can’t wait to see what next year brings…the new faces that will carry this tradition on to a whole new set of kids of all ages doing their first triathlon or the seasoned pros that have done this event since the very beginning. Watching Zach Chambers race his heart out and cross the finish at a full sprint was almost as fun as watching my own 5-year-old son cross that line for the very first time.

PS. If you lost any items the day of the event, please contact me. I have a full bag of lost and found including some pretty nice towels and coffee mugs!

Christina Joyce
Race Director
Arden Park Youth Triathlon
ardenparktriathlon@gmail.com