In her second attempt, our 7 year-old successfully completed the school's duathlon. Last year she refused to ride without me holding onto her handlebars the entire first half of the race. So this year, not only did we practice more ahead of time, but Papa took the morning off work so that he could jog alongside her while she peddled her bike. I was volunteering at the site all morning, but when Papa arrived with the two younger ones, I briefly left my post, and I was able to watch part of the race.
Once the kindergartener's had completed their race, the grade one girls, including our 7-year-old, found their bicycles by the side of the school, and walked them to the starting line. Before the race begun, they had a brief warm-up with some grade six students involving mostly jumping jacks. They then raced to their bikes, and jumped on at the starting line. They rode, with a police escort, and on cordoned-off streets, roughly one kilometre and ended the riding portion at the start line. Then, they hopped off their bikes, and ran into the school's court yard. They jogged around the soccer field, then ended at the back of the school to cheering parents and kids from other grades.
My husband didn't have to jog far, as our 7-year old not only ignored him, but left him in the dust. This was in contrast to last year where she cried part way, mostly screamed each time I let go of her handle bars, and asked for her Papa...
And while she did not finish first, second, or third, she did finish in the top half of the grade 1 girls. And while I was unable to see her bike as I was watching the two little ones by the finish line, I was simply pleased that she tried her best and succeeded...
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| The finish line (before the event begun) |
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| The bikes lined up by grade |
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| The warm-up |
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| Finishing off strong |
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| Enjoying a post-race treat |
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