Recreational sports’ first indoor mini-triathlon started this Monday at the Wellness Center and will conclude Friday, May 1.  The competition consists of a 2,000 meter row, five-mile bike ride, and a mile run open to all students, staff and faculty.

“It’s a mini triathlon. It’s all going to be indoors,” said Caleb Hannon, assistant director of recreational sports.

Hannon said participants will do a 2,000 meter row, five mile bike ride, and run one mile, all with 30 second breaks between each station to switch machines or change shoes.

“We time each section then at the end we compile all the times to see who has the best time out of all the competitors,” Hannon said.

Hannon said anyone wanting to compete will sign up online and will choose a minimum of five times to compete throughout the week, Monday through Friday, out of 35 time slots. Hannon schedules two competitors against each other throughout the week based on availability.

“I wanted to make it very open for anybody to compete, including faculty and staff or students, to work around their class schedules or if they have jobs as well so that they could compete throughout the week,” Hannon said.

Hannon said with 16 people already signed up, all time slots for Friday are filled, but Thursday and Wednesday are all wide open for eager competitors.

“We have a lot of time slots still open so I’m allowing people to still sign up if they email me or contact us trough social media to sign up for later on in the week,” Hannon said.

Angie Reay, associate director of housing, and Clint Coulter, residence hall director, were the first ones to compete in the indoor mini-triathlon Tuesday morning.

“It was a good competition,” Reay said. “It was tough.”

Reay said she has competed in triathlons before, but Coulter said he has only ran in 5k and spartan races.

“The row and the run were the hardest for me,” Coulter said.

At the end of the week after all times are compiled, Hannon said the winner will receive a T-shirt and a FitBit watch—budget permitting.

Hannon said he hopes the mini indoor-triathlon will the first of many for recreational sports.

UPDATE: According to Hannon, Dirk Welch, director of the Career Management Center, took first place in the men’s category with a time of 21:59, and Nicole Coetzer, nursing sophomore, finished first for women at 23:48.