Message from the President
Hello triathletes and especially those in the Las Vegas area. It’s that time of year again with season openers like the California Half Ironman – the Rage Sprint and Olympic – Irongirl ….. the list goes on. I was so energized after the mini- duathlon I signed up for the Lake Havasu Tri in a couple of weeks.
A couple of quick housekeeping notes – the uniforms are scheduled to be shipped on the 4th of April, when we get them we intend to send them out to you via mail, so you will not have to pick them up. If you are doing the Iron Girl let me know so we can make sure you have your uniform for the race. Please consider using the message board on the club web site to stay in touch with each other. I will be posting messages there, there is a lot going on and I don’t know of another way of exchanging information on the fly.
Now on to last week’s event, our mini-duathlon I believe was a greatrnsuccess and if you talk to anyone that was there that day I think theyrnwould agree. The success of that event and the direction of thernorganization is based on what we do as athletes, we commit, train, andrnwe execute. As we go along we learn things, adapt, deal with ourrnshortcomings, tell stories to friends and have fun. Sometimes my wifernand kids accuse me of putting everything in life into an athleticrnmetaphor. They are right. There were several things that were veryrnmeaningful to me about the event this weekend:
The coaching community participated as a group to support thernathletes. Jackie Arcana, Chuck Abbott and Linda Krause all played arnpart in the event, by putting on clinics and making sure their peoplerngot exposed to other triathletes. Our organization wants to supportrnand build community in the sport.
Families participated together. Many triathletes find themselves inrnthe middle of raising a family during their athletic years; I think itrnis critical that we develop events where the entire family can berntogether, whether the kids are just cheering from the sidelines or theyrnare in there as participants. Parents need to be good examples – theyrnneed to demonstrate commitment, the ability to step up to the challengernand an ability to put the difficulties associated with a specific eventrninto perspective. If I sound a bit preachy here I probably am becausernI believe that the lessons I learned about raising kids throughrnathletics were crucial to my development as a parent. My kids learnedrnthrough participating ways to deal with life’s difficulties, personalrnexpectations and how to control your emotions when things go wrong. Irnjust can’t say enough – ok- enough preaching
People had fun. We hung out told stories met each others families.rnOur two top male competitors who I believe cranked out a couple of subrn7 or it may have been 6 minute miles came in together with big smilesrnand congratulated each other after a hard effort. It was a great dayrnon the course.
We, as a club, delivered on our mission statement. I have been in manyrnorganizations where the leadership has lofty goals but does not havernthe courage to carry them out; where money and energy is spent onrnthings that are not on target. Will we occasionally stumble – yes, butrnthat is the price of moving forward. Your leadership intends to keeprndelivering on our mission statement promises to the best of our ability
The creativity and commitment of our membership and leadership teamrnproduced an event that went beyond our expectations. We had anrnannouncer, 2 coached clinics –wetsuit and transition, a safe coursernmanned by volunteers, a club photographer, and a great meal cooked byrnour treasurer and membership director. Impressive! Going forward wernintend to call on the membership to provide many of the new ideas thatrnwill create relevance in our efforts. Times change, family patternsrnchange, communication methods change. If you don’t change the way yournare delivering service and addressing needs; you will not be of valuernto your community and your membership.
Good Luck – Later, Davern
