It was another successful year of the annual Goody Triathlon held in Pulaski on Friday. In its seventh year, there were 120 participants, along with their mentors, from 12 local schools throughout the area, including the likes of Shawano, Menominee Indian, Pulaski, among others.
The triathlon continues to grow and aims to help students with disabilities develop and realize their potential through goal setting and perseverance.
Participants of the event train for nine weeks, but they’re not alone. Organizer of the event, Kare Goodness, says it’s really become a collaborative effort between them and their mentors.
“Our mentors [at Pulaski], when they have the availability in their schedule, train right alongside the kid they’re going to be mentoring during the race,” Goodness said of the mentor’s role. “Over the course of nine weeks, they’re developing relationships, they’re training together, sweating together, working hard together, so it becomes more of a cooperative, working together kind of thing.”
Mentors could be anyone from fellow students, family, or faculty. From Southern Door High School, Austin Olson and his mentor Hunter were in their first year together at the Goody Triathlon and Hunter said they were having a great time.
“It’s really cool to work with him,” Hunter said of being paired with Austin. “It’s a great experience and it’s really good for [Austin] to have friends like that.”
Alec Lavarge from the Menominee Indian School District was in the Good Triathlon for the second year in a row, which is something he was excited to again.
“It was great,” he said after finishing. “I started off swimming, then bike riding, and running. I got to the finish, which was okay.”
Alec added his favorite part of the triathlon was the biking and that he spent a lot of time training and preparing.
Overall, the community support throughout Pulaski on Friday was strong, as the participants had supporters from all over cheering them on at every stage of the race.
Kare Goodness said he’s proud of how far the event has come in seven years and he hopes it will continue to be a special day for the participants to look forward to for many more to come.