Students who enjoy running, biking and swimming are in for a treat as OU introduces its first Triathlon club team.

Triathlon, recognized as an Olympic sport at the 2000 games in Sydney, consists of three combined disciplines: the swim, the bike and the run, in that order.

Joni Alexander, vice president of the team and journalism senior, said the goal of the club is to create a group of people on campus who can come together and be involved in triathlon.

"We would like to emulate what a lot of other colleges have done with their triathlon teams," she said. " We want to encompass novices, who are just here to have fun, and people who want to be competitive in the sport.

"We are also in the process of being listed by United States Triathlon, the American governing body for the sport."

Early triathlons were held as offbeat training exercises for runners. In 1974, the San Diego Track Club founded the first official triathlon event.

Aaron Claggett, MBA student, said he will mostly train and coach the team instead of doing the event himself. Claggett, who has an undergraduate degree in health and sports sciences and who is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine, said he has experience in training triathletes. He said he will bring experience in training, injury prevention and nutrition to the organization.

"They all need a little guidance initially, and I think I can help them out with that," Claggett said.

The Olympic distances are shorter than the Ironman distances. The grueling, well-known Ironman triathlon has a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26-mile marathon run.

The distances in the Olympic format race are .93-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike and 6.2 mile run. It really makes for a very different race, and therefore hard to compare to the Ironman.

OU triathletes will compete in events of varying distances throughout the season.

Alexander said members of the team come from diverse backgrounds in their athletic ability. Some of the athletes have competed in triathlons and some have not. She said some of her teammates may need help with one of the three, where others on the team are experts at one of the parts or another.

"Pretty much everyone has run, biked or swam some time in their life. If you have done one, you can probably learn another," Alexander said.

Karen Schmuhl, an engineering sophomore who swam competitively in high school, has done local triathlons in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, she said. Schmuhl said she is looking forward to helping teammates in the swimming aspect of the race.

"I'm just excited to do something competitive again. I was glad to hear triathlon finally got started here," Schmuhl said. "It's just another diverse organization getting started here at OU."

Ingo Dietrich, a finance senior who is an exchange student from Austria, has competed in two triathlons. Dietrich's expertise coming into the event is his background in biking, where he was sponsored in Austria by Simplom Team Austria, he said. Dietrich said he wants to get involved on campus by joining an organization that will allow him to meet people and challenge him physically.

"I've never trained with anyone before. I just want to experience the feeling of training in a group, being part of a team," he said.

Alexander said over 50 people have shown interest in the team, which is listed on the Sooner Information Network. She said the training begins Saturday, but the season doesn't start until the spring. The cost of the club membership is $15, she said.
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