Hello TriGators!
As you know, we had our first meeting on Sept. 6th held in room 235 of the
Florida Gym. The first part of the meeting, which started at 7:30 p.m., was
dedicated to the new TriGators. Craig Dixon, the new
president of the UF team, introduced the new officers (Alex Lechner,
Eric Swedberg, Jennifer Sanchiz), the practices and the general life of the TriGator family. We then introduced the new TriGators to their "older" teammates by 8:30 p.m.
A few words should be said about this gathering, if you guys could not make it
on that day.
TriGators are a group of people united by a same
passion for the triple effort, who wants to have fun, to race and to improve.
Together, we usually race sprints (.2 to.4-mile swim, 10 to 14-mile bike and
3.2-mile run) or Olympic/international distance (1-mile swim, 26-mile bike, and
6.4-mile run). But other distances and formats are available, such Supersprints (shorter than a sprint triathlon and held on
UF campus in spring), duathlon (run-bike-run), aquathlon (swim and run) or X-Terra (mountain bike instead
of a road bike).
This said, Craig mentioned the practices that you will be able to find on our
Website: www.trigator.com. It is important to us to mention that there is NO
INTIMIDATION, no time requirements. We want you guys to feel comfortable, to
improve and to blossom up. We have two wonderful coaches (ok I'm not very
objective... but I couldn't help ;) ), Jim Leary and
Dan Kerr, from whom you could learn a lot. They are not just on the pool deck
or on the track to merely give the workouts, but you are encouraged to talk to
them to get some advice.
By the end of the meeting, Craig stretched out the races that we are going to
do this semester.
So note this down on your agendas:
- September 23rd: Sand Key Triathlon - Sprint
@
-
- October 21st: Longleaf Triathlon - Sprint @
Trinity, FL.
Meetings will be scheduled to assure a stress less travel and ensure that you
guys are ready and know what to do.
On a more important note, Craig mentioned TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS: the RecSport WAIVERS (which include the SWIM TEST) and the
RECEIPTS when you are REGISTERED for the planned races.
We need to make this clear to you since RecSport (in
charge of UF clubs) was really harsh on us with these matters. You NEED to give
your waiver with the swim test PASSED to one of the officers AS SOON AS YOU
CAN.
For those of you who are registered to race Sand Key Triathlon and who do not
have completed a waiver yet and given it back to an officer, it is very URGENT
that you do it by Tuesday Sept. 11th. If you cannot do it by this time, please
contact one of the officers.
Since the races planned are reimbursed by RecSport,
we need you to print the receipts when you are registered. The receipt should
include your credit card numbers, usually only the last four digits will
appear. Then, once your receipt is in possession of an officer, you will be
asked to sign a travel form that will allow you to get reimbursed after the
completion of your race.
If you do not race when priory registered, for whatever reason, you will NOT
GET REIMBURSED.
Also, RecSport made it clear that if a TriGator is signed on the travel form and does not have
handed back a RecSport waiver, the WHOLE GROUP WILL
NOT GET REIMBURSED.
To summarize,if you plan on
doing a race:
* make sure you filled in the waiver, did the swim test and gave it to an
officer
* register online
* print your receipt, which should include the last four digits of your credit
card
* give your receipt to one of the officers
* sign the travel form
* train and race :)
No reimbursement if you do not go to the race!
If you plan on joining the TriGators next season and
plan on racing, we highly recommend you to buy a USAT license.
USAT is the U.S. Triathlon organism. Anytime you are going to race, the race
will probably be approved by USAT and will be held under the triathlon
federation's rules.
For Sand Key Triathlon, you will be asked to purchase a day license if you are
not a member of USAT. The price is about $10 for a day license.
If you think about joining the TriGators and doing
more than one race, you may consider buying an annual license. The starting
price is about $30.
If you have already bought a day license and feel like doing more triathlons
than you expected to, you can pay the difference as long as you keep your day
license number. This means that you will only have to pay $20.
You may want to register for a USAT license here: https://www.usatmembership.com/default.aspx
For those of you who just start or want to update their racing/training
materials, we have a major sponsor, named
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me or any other officer.
Sorry about the length of this e-mail, but the first meeting is always
important to have things settled down.
We really hope that you guys are going to enjoy the team as much as we do.
Keep it up and see you on practices ;)!
Jen