At 4:30 a.m. every morning, kindergartners who are preparing for the Charlotte Track and Triathlon Club's kids triathlon series wake up for a quick breakfast of raw eggs and protein powder before hitting the treadmill and weight room.

Well, not exactly. Although the kids, who are participating in at least one of the seven children’s triathlon events CTCC is hosting this summer, range in age from 5 to 17 years old, the majority fall in the 8-13 bracket. And training is a bit of an overstatement.

"The training is what would be tedious for them," says Melinda Yelton, the kids triathlon coordinator for CTTC. She stressed that the most important thing is for them to "just come out and have fun."

In reality, many of the kids don’t take up any form of training — the triathlons are more of a summer activity, designed mainly as recreation. Nearly every kid is on a swim team, though.

This week, Yelton is running a camp for the kids who do want some training (or, in many cases, for the parents who feel their kids need more training), although the group mostly plays games.

Whereas the kids may just come out to have fun, the parents, many of whom are involved in their own triathlons, are another story.

"They’re the most intense at the kids' races," Yelton says. "They’re getting into it way more than the kids are."

Currently, each race is scored individually; for this reason, it’s easy to sign your kid up, without worrying about multiple commitments.

Yelton says that requirements are minimal. "They need a helmet to ride their bike and need to know how to swim.”

(The next triathlon will be held beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 23, in the Southampton community, just south of Ballantyne. For more information, go to http://www.charlottetrackandtriclub.org/KidsTri/2006/kids2006.html.)

— Margot Schneider