The Andreasen Center for Wellness hosted its second annual indoor triathlon on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. While participants in many triathlons usually test their endurance outdoors—swimming, cycling and running set distances—the wellness center’s event was held indoors. Competitors swam in the wellness center pool, rode stationary spin bikes and ran on treadmills to test their athletic capacity or simply for fun.
The event officially began at 9 a.m., although participants had to arrive earlier for a briefing. There were multiple groups that filtered through the different activities so that all participants could be accommodated. Triathletes began by swimming for 10 minutes. Then, they biked for 20 minutes and ran on treadmills for 15 minutes. Volunteers stood nearby and observed the mile stats portrayed on the workout equipment. In the end, the distances from all three events were combined into one composite number to determine the winners of each category.
For those who did not want to take part in all three events, there was an option to sign up as part of a team of two or three individuals. As a result, there were separate prize categories for teams and solo participants. The awards ceremony began around 11:30 a.m. The planning team creatively used workout boxes of different heights as podiums for winners to stand on during the awards ceremony. All competitors who signed up received participation medals and T-shirts as mementos of the event.
The wellness center had a number of sponsors for the event, some of which set up booths in the wellness center lobby with freebies and items for sale that athletes, volunteers and spectators could peruse. The Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group of Andrews University also had a booth where volunteers passed out free Lärabar Minis and handouts with information about health and sports.
Many individuals expressed positive reactions towards the event. Solo participant Julianna Magan (senior, speech pathology) shared that participating in the indoor triathlon “was a good motivator for me to continually want to exercise and make it part of my routine” and that she would participate again. She also shared that it inspired her to set “bigger and better” goals related to fitness. She highly recommends that others should take part as well because despite the difficulty, it allowed her to get to know other people involved and there is a good feeling when you push closer to the end.
This is not the first triathlon event hosted by Andrews University. They used to offer a team event called the Beach 2 Bank challenge, which had a set distance, started off-campus and replaced the swimming portion with kayaking. Although that event is no longer on the annual calendar, the wellness center is planning to continue their indoor triathlon, which will allow community members to take part in more triathlon events in the future.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.