Local athlete continues to shine on triathlon circuit
On Fridays during the summer months, Ceily Hepner rests. And
it’s a good thing, too.
”
It’s free,
”
said Hepner, 8, about her day off.
”
I don’t do swimming or running.
”
Or biking, for that matter.
Local athlete continues to shine on triathlon circuit
On Fridays during the summer months, Ceily Hepner rests. And it’s a good thing, too.
“It’s free,” said Hepner, 8, about her day off. “I don’t do swimming or running.”
Or biking, for that matter.
Otherwise, the incoming fourth-grader at Ladd Lane Elementary has a schedule overflowing with activity, six days a week.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, Hepner swims with San Benito Aquatics in Hollister. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she’s with the Wolfpack triathlon club in Morgan Hill, running and biking.
On Saturdays, a long two- to three-mile run is scheduled with the Wolfpack, and on Sunday, it’s bike workouts in Morgan Hill.
And if the slew of activity during the week doesn’t exhaust every muscle in Hepner’s small frame, well then she can just try on the many medals she’s accumulated over the years – the weight alone might make one keel over.
“When I’m doing the triathlons, it’s harder (to run) for me because I’m already tired after the swimming and the biking,” Hepner said.
Good thing the 8-year-old athlete actually prefers the running leg. If she didn’t, then competing in a triathlon might actually be difficult for her.
Instead, Hepner has picked up where she left off last year on the triathlon circuit, and recently earned a runner-up standing at the Silicon Valley Kids Triathlon at De Anza College in Cupertino.
Swimming 100 yards, biking two miles and running a half-mile, Hepner finished second among some 90 other girls in 16 minutes and 21 seconds. Combined with the boys race, though, Hepner was third overall out of 207 competitors.
Only Chloe Waldner of Fresno clocked a faster time (15:36) in the girls race, but the two triathletes have become budding rivals of late. At the Roseville Kids Triathlon in mid-May, Hepner trumped Waldner for first place by a similar margin, while at the Sierra Kids Triathlon in Clovis, Waldner and Hepner finished 1-2 once again, respectively.
“It’s good to have that competition,” said Hepner’s mother, Johnna. “That’s what drives her.”
At Cupertino, however, Waldner was actually in the heat behind Hepner, so the two weren’t able to push each other during the race. And at last year’s event, which Waldner won, Hepner’s day ended a little sooner than expected.
“Last year, we don’t know (where she finished) because mom got her disqualified,” Johnna said.
Johnna was accidentally given a colored wrist band prior to the race, meaning she could help Hepner in the transition areas as competitors moved from the swimming to the biking legs, and from the biking to the running.
But assistance in those areas was allowed only in the 5- and 6-year-old division, and Hepner, then 7 years old, was disqualified as a result.
“It was a costly mistake because we know she would have done well,” Johnna said. “She doesn’t need help in the transition areas anymore, so mom stays put.”
With four events completed this season already – she has two first-place finishes and two second-place finishes – Hepner seems to be doing just fine all by herself. She’ll compete later this summer in triathlons in Morgan Hill, Santa Barbara and Gilroy, as well the California Kids Triathlon in Woodland, considered the largest event of its kind in the country.
Hepner, meanwhile, said she’s just going to “keep doing it” when it comes to triathlons, although any thought of competing in a full Ironman competition is quickly met with a resounding “no.”
“It’s too much to do,” she said.
That’s perhaps true, although if Hepner is in need of more time to train, her Fridays are wide open.
