It doesn't hurt to TRY - Experiences of youths participating in a TRYathlon event series.

Abstract

Running since 1999, the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon (SWKT) is the world's largest triathlon series for children and adolescents up to 16years. This report seeks to describe participants of the TRYathlon and their perceptions of the event. An online survey was made available to Australian parents/guardians of participants enrolled in the 2020 SWKT. Organisational data was also employed to describe the reach of the SWKT since its inception. Parents/guardians (n=568) reported that the average child age was 9.12 (SD=1.95, range=6-16) and 58.6% were male. Parents/guardians identified 12 children as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (2.0%) and 87 (14.6%) spoke a language other than English. The majority of parents/guardians rated their child's physical activity (PA) competencies as pretty good, or really good, for cycling (87.5%), swimming (80.9%) and running (79.5%). Most parents (66.0%) stated that their child was glowing with pride after completing the event, enjoyed or really enjoyed the event (98.8%), and thought their child would maintain their PA levels following the event (72.9%). The SWKT series has demonstrated longevity and an ability to reach a large number of participants, providing opportunities to build health promotion awareness. Importantly the event instils a sense of confidence and pride related to PA competency in its participants; however, its long-term effectiveness requires further exploration. SO WHAT?: Mass participation events such as SWKT could be incorporated into larger health promotion strategies to encourage childhood PA and foster healthy physical and psychosocial development.