FEATURES
Ambassadors, "Moonshots" and Mentorship..
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Saturday, 17 March 2018 23:10
ED. On Friday we received this important email from Minneapolis triathlete Greg Dummer:
Hi MTN,
I hope you are doing well and are looking forward to the 2018 triathlon season. I have some news I wanted to share with you. Last summer I applied to become a member of the “inaugural” USAT Ambassador program. The process started with 3,500 applicants and was narrowed down to 50 ambassadors throughout the country.
In January, I was notified that I was one of the ambassadors.
The objective of the Ambassador program is to expose communities to the sport of triathlon and inspire them to become active. We try to create appeal to multisport through personal stories and energize “first timers” to try multisport by giving them the tools to enter the sports. There is a specific emphasis on increasing women in the sport, youth racing and short course racing....
As part of the Ambassador program, I have assembled an amazing team of ambassadors to help support this initiative in Minnesota – Laura Swartz, Lisa Lendway, Jesse Shaw, Nikki Sudberry, Kristina Swenson, Jade Ptacek, Christine Berger and Cheri Bates.
There has also been a recent USAT partnership with IRONMAN called “Time to Tri” (www.mytimetotri.com) to grow the sport of triathlon and support and inspire beginners to complete their first triathlon.
The timing for these initiatives couldn’t come any sooner. As you have mentioned on your website many times, in Minnesota we have seen participation rates drop drastically over the past few years and venerable races such as Buffalo Triathlon are being canceled.
In January, Barry Siff, President of USA Triathlon, stated a 2020 goal of introducing 100,000 new participants to the sport. I strongly believe that our amazing group of Minnesota triathletes need to do our part of recruiting new triathletes.
What I would like to suggest is a 2018 “moonshot” initiative. I would like to challenge and encourage all MTN readers who are willing to take a “pledge” to find at least one person and help mentor them to their first triathlon in the 2018 season. The goal is to have at least 500 new triathletes signed up for a race…and hopefully more.
I strongly believe the future of our sport depends on this as well as the quality of the many Minnesota races we probably take for granted. For me personally, living a multisport lifestyle has allowed tremendous personal growth, confidence and lifelong friends. I know many of your readers feel the same way.
The amazing Laura Swartz has created a new Facebook page called “Tri it up North” with the expressed purpose of matching beginners with mentors and to provide a safe environment to answer questions from fellow Minnesota triathletes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/220748378472940/?ref=bookmarks .
I would encourage everyone to sign up, take the pledge and support this initiative.
Regards,
Greg Dummer
