Taking place at South Oxhey Woods Sculpture Trail in Hertfordshire, Jetstream Triathlon Club are organising a Halloween themed 5km run on Sunday 31 October.
The 1.5km path through the trail is where the run will take place, with participants completing three laps before a shorter fourth lap to the finish.
“At the end of each lap, they have to do a ‘trick’ which are ‘feel boxes’,” commented Tricia Gormley, one of the club’s coaches.
“They put their hands in through holes in a box that they can’t see. They’re putting their hands into cold spaghetti and we tell them their brains and we’ve got four of these.
“At the end of each lap they go to a different feel box and at the end of the shorter lap they’ll go to the fourth one.”
Based in Hatch End, this is the second time that Gormley has organised a Halloween themed event, with coaches and members setting one up themselves to help families get active in an interesting way whilst staying within Covid-19 guidelines in 2020.
Last year’s event took on a different form to allow participants to run a socially-distanced 5km and take part in tricks to earn treats, with the easing of restrictions this year providing opportunity to bring people together.
“We encourage everyone to dress up, it’s a families and individuals runners event,” Gormley added. “Everybody’s welcome and our junior section has grown over the last 18 months, so it’s nice to be able to offer something like that combined with a 5k. They [the juniors] love the whole festivity of it and the occasion.
“I wanted to give children the opportunity to get involved with trick and treat without knocking on people’s doors and parents trekking round the streets. The kids get to do a trick regularly and there’s an incentive at the end of each lap to keep them going.
“The parents love it because it takes the effort out of the responsibility on them to get their kids involved. They love getting dressed up. They love a reward, they get sweets and trick and treat bag and I’m a big believer in a medal. They get something gooey and horrible, they get something to take away and a medal for their efforts.”
As well as the Halloween 5k, Jetstream organised a Christmas challenge and a number of other self-directed activities to keep members and their families active through the pandemic.
Now that they are back to regular training, the club organise coached swim, bike and run sessions throughout the week. For more information about Jetstream and their activities, please click here to visit their website - http://www.jetstreamtri.com/.
Clubs like Jetstream are a great way to get more involved with swim, bike, run, and provide opportunities for both juniors and seniors to hone their skills and connect with other triathletes. Find a club near you using the search below.
