Training for a triathlon can get a bit slippery in the winter, especially if you’re running outside. To maintain a triathlon training schedule and to measure how tri-athletes are doing in their training, DePaul University hosted Demon Dash, an indoor triathlon open to students and the general public members.
“This early in the year, it gives them a chance to see how on-track they are with their training. Kind of gives them a little competitive feeling, because it’s different to train than it is to compete. Your body just reacts differently,” explained Sarah Harden, the associate director of campus recreation. “It’s kind of two-fold. It was for people that had never done it to try it and for people that were in training to just measure themselves and see how they were doing.”
The event held on Sunday, January 10 from 8 a.m. until noon was the second annual Demon Dash, and the university plans to hold another one in April.
Former employee of the Ray Meyer Fitness Center at DePaul University, Chris Nasti, brought the idea to Harden’s attention last year. He wanted people who had never done a triathlon before to experience the format of a race as well as measure their training. At first, Harden was skeptical.
“Not that I didn’t think it was a good idea to do. I just thought it would be a little more disruptive to people who were here dropping in. It’s not at all actually. The people that notice think it’s really cool and are interested,” Harden explained.
Because the indoor triathlon was held during normal business hours for the facility, Harden could not shut down entire areas of the facility. Instead, along with Courtney Griffin, the assistant director of fitness recreation and wellness, they found a day and time the facility was not normally crowded.
Overall, the event lasted almost three hours. Instead of timing the athletes through their swim, cycle and run, their distance was measured. They had 10 minutes for the swim, 30 minutes for the cycle and 20 minutes on the treadmill. Their scores were determined by how much distance was covered in the time.
And to save space in the facility, the 25 participants were broken up into four waves, not by gender or age.
“It takes a lot of organization, even though it’s a small event. Especially for campus rec people that have much bigger facilities or maybe don’t have the restrictions on some of their facilities that we do, they can have a lot of people,” said Harden.
She was pleased with the number of participants and hopes to keep the number consistent. In November, students heard about the event through social media and fliers. But the university reached out to their own triathlon training class as well as triathlon clubs in the greater Chicago area to invite the general public.
For the Demon Dash in April, Harden is hoping to include a team option. But whether in teams or individually, Harden wants participants to walk away proud of themselves. “There were people that were like ‘I didn’t think I could do this. This is so cool.’ It’s great internal motivation for people that are maybe struggling with fitness goals or not sure where they want to go. It just gets them pumped up,” said Harden.
Or walk away with a gift card to the local running store, which the men’s and women’s first place winners received.
