“Y Time To Tri ” affords opportunity for special needs kids
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Aidan Hill enjoys the spoils of victory after completing his first triathlon.
Christian Fishell (center) enjoys the run portion of the My Turn To Tri event. He was assisted during the event by his sisters, Ally, (right) and Jillian (left).
Noah Troesch breaks the tape as he finishes his first triathlon.
Dominic Angelucci is thrilled to be riding his bicycle during the My Time To Tri, a special needs triathlon event sponsored by the Spencer YMCA in Bethel Park.
Jamie Weissert, 8, of Upper St. Clair competes in the swimming portion of the Y's triathlon for special needs athletes.
Jamie Weissert and Noah Troesch race during the cycling portion of the YMCA special needs triathlon.
Noah Troesch sports his game face as he anticipates the start of the cycling portion of the triathlon.
Aidan Hill pedals enthusiastically during the cycling portion of the triathlon.
Aidan Hill pedals enthusiastically during the cycling portion of the triathlon.
Eric McElvenny helps Macee Peterson adjust her helmet before mounting her bike for the cycling portion of the YMCA special needs triathlon.
Noah Troesch (right) is supported by his brother, Dylan, during the run portion of the My Turn To Tri athletic event held at the Spencer YMCA
Lauren Kweder, Stephanie Spina, Kendall Wright, Sofia Putorti, Maggie Lowden, Hannah Rieger, Penny Yates.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Racers start the running portion of the triathlon.
“You can do this,” Ally Fishell whispered to her 10-year-old brother Christian as he trepidly entered the pool.
“Go Noah, go,” cheered supporters as he pedaled around the parking lot.
“Looking good Jamie,” shouted Robin Weissert as she watched her 8-year-old daughter run like the wind, lapping her competition.
These are typical words of encouragement heard at triathlons, but this event was different.
It was special-needs children’s time to try as the Spencer YMCA held the first triathlon of its kind in Bethel Park.
“These children are athletes, too, and they want to compete,” said Mike Lloyd, who is director of admission advancement for the Y.
During the inaugural My Turn To Tri, special-needs athletes swam, biked and ran. They racked up laps and points during each 15-minute segment.
All competitors had the opportunity to break the blue winner’s tape at a finish line festooned with yellow and white balloons.
In addition to participation medals, awards were distributed by former U.S. Marine Eric McElvenny to the athletes demonstrating characteristics such as grit, determination and courage. The Bethel Park resident lost his right leg when he stepped on an IED while serving in Afghanistan in 2011.
“I’m so proud of all of you,” McElvenny said during the post-race awards celebration. “Everybody went out and finished. Because you completed a triathlon, I am going to call you all triathletes.
“It’s hard. It’s fun. But, I saw a lot of smiles out there. I saw people getting tired on the run. I saw people getting tired on the bike and I saw some people a little scared to go swimming. But, I want to tell you that’s part of being a triathlete. It takes resilience. It takes courage.”
Just to enter the event took courage for some participants.
For example, Noah Troesch saw a flyer about the race while playing baseball in the Miracle League in Upper St. Clair. Troesch is austistic. He also has ADHD.
“Noah usually doesn’t sign up for anything,” said his mother, Kristin, who grew up in Bethel Park, but now lives in Baldwin. “He was very excited about this.”
Noah was so excited he actually trained for the race. He rode his bike up and down the street. When he rounded the block, he was so thrilled, he’d ask “how fast” did he go.
Now the family is elated children like Noah have a chance to compete.
“Noah would always see his brothers and sisters involved in activities and now there is something for him,” Kristin said. “I think it’s wonderful that he can look forward to things like this.
“Sports are a great outlet for people like Noah with special needs,” she added. “Sports give him hope and they motivate him.”
Christian Fishell, 10, used his sisters as motivation.
Ally, Gabrielle and Jillian have competed in triathlons in the past, including the Habitat For Humanity Series held in South and North parks.
Ally, 15, who is now in high school and runs cross country for Upper St. Clair, served as Christian’s buddy. She helped him train, running with him in the family’s backyard and monitoring his biking. She also swam with him at the Y.
Ally assisted Christian during every leg of the triathlon. By the end of the race, she was exhausted.
“I didn’t realize how much effort I was going to have to put into it,” she said. “It really was like doing my own triathlon.
“I really enjoyed helping everyone though and giving everyone the chance to have the same experience as a regular kid would,” Ally added. “It was very rewarding seeing everybody enjoy themselves and sharing the same experience that I have had.”
Kristine Fishell said her son has always wanted to compete in a triathlon, but could not because he has Down syndrome.
“This time it was his turn to try,” she said. “It was a day for him and other athletes like him to compete. This event gave each of the children the opportunity to feel as if they can achieve a goal and that they can feel special, too.”
Macee Peterson received the special treatment from McElvenny after she befriended him at the registration table. Peterson asked what happened to him.
He instinctively replied. “I have this fake leg. It’s called a prosthetic leg. Isn’t it pretty cool?” Noting it indeed was different, he added he sometimes tells people it’s his robot leg.
“Well that’s cool,” agreed Peterson, who has Down syndrome. “How about that.”
Macee proceeded to show McElvenny her pink bike and after her swim, he helped her prepare for the cycling portion of the race by securing the straps on her helmet.
Macee loves being active. She enjoys swimming in the family’s backyard pool and she loves to ride her bike. Macee also plays in the Miracle League.
“We are really excited that something like this actually exists for us,” said Macee’s mother, Meredith, who works at the Down Syndrome Center at Children’s Hospital. “It opens another venue for children like Macee to be active.
“This is huge,” Meredith added regarding the Y triathlon. “Kids love to be active. Macee has been looking forward to this. She has been excited for months.”
Even though the event started early, 7 a.m. Sunday morning, seven female students from Upper St. Clair High School were excited to take part in the triathlon. The rising sophomores were among the many volunteers helping to ensure the event ran smoothly. Several of them heard about the event because they had also volunteered at the YMCA’s Camp Aim, which serves special-needs students during the summer months.
Some, like Penny Yates, are cheerleaders.
Since USC has a special-needs cheer team, Yates volunteered to help with that and learned about the Y triathlon.
“I like getting involved with things like this because I like seeing kids have fun,” Yates said. “It’s really exciting to see the happiness on the children’s faces and seeing everybody have a good time. It’s really neat to see how they progress and get along together and have so much fun.”
According to Christian Fishell, the most fun was being finished.
As he ate a chocolate-iced cake doughnut, Fishell agreed the post-race food was the “best part” of the race. He added, the swimming was “hardest” as was the run but he had “liked” the biking.
“I will do this again,” he confirmed. “I had a lot of fun.”
Eric McElvenny empathized with the young athletes that prepared for the start of the “My Time To Tri” event being held at the Spencer YMCA in Bethel Park. He shared their nerves. He fretted for their gear. The things remembered. The things forgotten. His pulse quickened as the race commenced. His emotions soared as each competitor broke the blue-ribbon tape at the finish line.
“This felt like every time I raced,” McElvenny said while addressing the competitors during the awards ceremony. “There’s nerves. You really don’t know what is going to happen but you start anyway. You compete. You do it. You finish.”
Whether a triathlon or life, that’s just McElvenny’s philosophy. He has faced his every challenge with that same conquering spirit.
McElvenny grew up in Rostraver Township. A 2001 Belle Vernon Area High School graduate, he excelled in athletics. He earned all-conference honors as a defensive back on the football team and all-section acclaim as a shortstop on the Leopards’ baseball team.
After spending a year at a prep school in Rhode Island, McElvenny earned an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. For three years, he played baseball and rugby for the Midshipmen. Upon graduation in 2006, he was assigned to the Marines Corps Base Quantico in Virginia for officer and infantry training. Assigned to Camp Pendleton in San Diego in 2007, he was attached to the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines and was deployed overseas three times.
After seven-month stints aboard ship in southeast Asia in 2008 and in the Middles East in 2010, he was wounded in Afghanistan. While leading a small team of four, embedded with an Afghan Army company on a routine patrol, McElvenny stepped on an IED.
“It triggered an explosion,” explained McElvenny.
Life-altering events ensued. McElvenny lost his right leg, amputated about four inches below his knee. His left leg was damaged by shrapnel. Approximately two months after the December, 2011 incident, McElvenny was fitted with a carbon-fiber prosthetic leg. Six months later, he competed in his first triathlon-a sprint event featuring a 750-meter swim, 18-mile bike race and 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) run.
Since, McElvenny has competed in more than 50 triathlons. He has completed eight Ironman Triathlons, which consist of a 2.4-mile swim, 120-mile bike and marathon run (26.2 miles).
“When I lost my leg, I wanted to set a big goal. Accomplish something big,” McElvenny said. “That is when I decided that my goal was to run an Ironman and I started racing. I really enjoyed it. So I kept doing it.”
Family kept McElvenny going when times got tough. McElvenny, who met his wife, Rachel, at the Naval Academy, has two daughters, Lupe, 13, and Elise, 5, and one son, William, 3. He moved to Bethel Park two years ago to be closer to his parents, Michael and Susan, and his sister, Heather, who resides in Charleroi. He has another sister, Shawna, who lives in Philadelphia.
“My family is what has really kept me going,” said McElvenny. “My family and my community was there to support me and help me move past my initial injury.”
As he continued to heal, McElvenny continued to improve his performances in races. He completed his first triathlon in 11 hours, 54 minutes. His personal record to date has been 10 hours, 20 minutes.
“I have been fortunate to run a lot of triathlons,” McElvenny said. “It takes courage and it takes resilience but it’s fun.”
McElvenny noted the preparation isn’t necessarily fun. And the run is always a challenge regardless of impairment.
“The training is usually the hardest part,” he said, “and out of the three events, the run is tough. It’s hard for anybody because it’s a lot of impact on the joints. WIth a prosthetic leg, you have to be very careful.”
McElvenny is careful to note to observers that he did not compete in triathlons until adversity struck. He viewed his situation as an opportunity and not a handicap that restrains his progress as an athlete or as a person.
“When we face challenges, we grow and we get better and we get stronger. I tell people and I tell these kids to embrace these challenges and allow them to help us grow,” he said.
McElvenny also hoped that all the competitors in the first YMCA special needs triathlon learned another valuable lesson. Life requires cooperation.
“It was a race, yes,” he said, “but a triathlon is a team effort. We were competing but as we finished, we gave each other high-fives because we are all a part of the same team. We enjoyed the day. We enjoyed each other and that’s really what matters.”