Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Utah's 1st Adaptive Triathlon Team!


Thanks to USA Triathlon Foundation Ambassador Jeff Schreiber for this write up! Please read and consider supporting this wonderful cause.


Coach Shannon Clawson leads Utah adaptive tri team to an historic USAT Nationals event

Balanced Art Multisport (BAM) coach Shannon Clawson has established a growing program to develop young adaptive triathletes with intellectual differences. Fundraising efforts are in motion to send several of her Utah-area paratriathletes to participate in an historic groundbreaking national event – USA Triathlon’s very first sanctioned race for athletes with intellectual differences, at the USAT Youth & Junior Nationals, July 31st, 2022 in West Chester, Ohio.

Meet the team and their coach!  (33 second video on Instagram)

You can show support by clicking here to donate. All donations are tax deductible through Intermountain Tri, a charitable 501(c)3 organization – when navigating to the website, choose the option for “Intermountain Adaptive Triathlon”.

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BAM coach Shannon Clawson knew she was building something special soon after she began offering swim, bike and run classes in 2021 to a group of a dozen young adaptive athletes with intellectual differences in the Heber City area.

“I started working with people with intellectual differences as a way to serve the sport of triathlon, and my daughter works in the industry, so I thought it would be a really fun thing to do … and it ended up being just transformational for me, working with this group of people. They are so wonderful, so happy and fun and kind, and I decided that I wanted to go bigger with this.”


Coach Clawson went bigger by arranging for support from Intermountain Triathlon (which has recently re-branded as Intermountain Multisport), BAM and local volunteer businesses and individuals to launch the Intermountain Adaptive Triathlon program. The group kicked off its inaugural event with a dozen of Shannon’s excited rookie triathletes in May 2021 at the Wasatch High School aquatic center, campus and stadium facility. The success of the program and the inaugural event led to a second expanded Intermountain Adaptive Triathlon at Wasatch High on May 14, 2022.

Progress has not come without challenges, however, even for a certified USAT Level 2 Paratriathlon coach like Shannon: “I’m still overcoming obstacles and learning … what motivates them, learning how to reach them, learning how to teach skills. What’s different is being a lot less formal in the training … adjusting the training to just make it fun and not have such hard-set expectations.”

The Intermountain Adaptive Tri group now has their sights set on the USAT Youth & Junior Nationals in Ohio. USA Triathlon has arranged for a specifically designated wave in the open Paratriathlon race on July 31st for intellectually different athletes. The event at Voice of America Park in West Chester will represent the first USAT sanctioned event for this athlete category. Shannon and Intermountain Multisport president Craig Libby are actively raising funds to send several of their motivated Utah paratriathletes to participate in the historic national event.


Costs of travel, lodging, transportation, race entry and daily expenses for the week in Ohio are estimated for each paratriathlete and their handler to be around $3,000. Any contributions from the broader Utah triathlon support community will go 100% toward direct sponsorship for an adaptive triathlete and are fully tax-deductible. Furthermore, anyone interested in volunteering time, talent or material to the Intermountain Adaptive Triathlon program may contact Coach Clawson directly.

Coach Clawson emphasizes: “Their world is difficult, and their world is expensive, and they don’t get all the opportunities that the rest of us get. I really want to help everyone see how much that this training and racing and having this purpose means to them, and what a really worthy cause this is. These people deserve this.”

WATCH the full 2022 Intermountain Adaptive Tri team video here! Video by Paul Clawson ©

All donations are tax deductible through Intermountain Tri, a charitable 501(c)3 organization – click here to donate and choose the option for “Intermountain Adaptive Triathlon”.


*****Below is the 2022 UTCS - the only update we're aware of from the below is that Brineman will be a unique Friday race on Sep 9th. Check out this post if you need a refresher on how the UTCS works.*****

Note: Brineman is now Sep 9th!

Below are links to all the 2022 Championship Series races:

Ice Breaker - Sprint
Sand Hollow - Olympic
Daybreak - Olympic
Jordanelle - Olympic
East Canyon - Olympic
Brineman **Now SEP 9th - Half (70.3)


POPULAR LINKS

UTAH TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES 2022 --> HERE
LATEST AGE GROUP RANKINGS --> HERE
CHAMPIONSHIP BELT HOLDERS --> HERE
MOST IMPROVED TRIATHLETES --> HERE
TOP LOCAL RACER AWARDS --> HERE
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2020 --> HERE
IMSG "COUNTY COMPETITION" (MAY BE REVIVED) --> HERE

UTAH TRIATHLON HISTORY 101 --> HERE


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