The Oak Brook Park District’s annual Cori’s Kids Triathlon was back to normal in a big way Saturday.
After being canceled in 2020 and moved from its usual June date to September a year ago, in both cases because of the coronavirus pandemic, 84 kids, ages 6 to 14 participated in the 2022 event at the Park District’s Family Recreation Center. The event started in 2011.
Susan and John Sikich founded the Cori Sikich Foundation in memory of their daughter, Cori, who lost her battle with an eating disorder in 2002 when she was 25 years old. Saturday was the 20th anniversary of her death.
“This is one of my favorite events,” said Laure Kosey, who has been the Park District’s executive director since 2010. “The kids are so happy when they finish, and there’s so much camaraderie. I have so many parents come up to me to say how much they like this event. It really brings the community together.”
The goal of the Cori Sikich Foundation is to promote positive and healthy living at an early age. The triathlon included six age/gender categories, ages 6-8, 9-11 and 12-14 for girls and boys. The distances for each of the three legs, swimming, biking and running, varied by age group.
Ages 6-8, which swam 25 yards, biked 1.45 miles and ran .75 miles; ages 9-11, which swam 75 yards, biked 2.45 miles and ran .75 miles; and ages 12-14 swam 125 yards, biked 3.46 miles and ran 1.25 miles.
The 9-11 age group had the largest number of participants, 47, while 27 took part in the 6-8 age group, and 11 competed in the 12-14 age category.
In the 6-8 age group, the top three finishers were Michael Annan, with a total time of 15 minutes 35 seconds; Vishnu Doppalapudi (16:10) and Lillian Vehe (16:13)
Marinda Thompson finished first in the 9-11 age group (17:06), followed by Safina Galarza (19:53) and Sophia Cervantes (20:10) in the top three.
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In the 12-14 age group, Dante Thompson came in first (23:00), while Ana Guset (26:10) and Atticus Fair (27:21) finished second and third, respectively.
Complete results are available at https://www.obparks.org/special-events/coris-kids-triathlon.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
