On Thursday, a group of Lawrence High students participated in a not-so-familiar sporting event that is an Olympic sport and also determines the World Ironman.

The group of 20 girls enrolled in the aerobics-fitness course competed in a team triathlon. The purpose of the sport (or, rather, sports) was to “attempt to better prepare them in lifelong activities” said class instructor Joan Starks.

Although the class taught by Starks isn’t new, biking is an aspect of the class just introduced this year.

The idea came from Liz Dobbins, a longtime friend of Starks’ who is in the initial stages of developing multi-sport curricula for high schools.

“We didn’t see it as being a problem because we pretty much already had an existing course that I could just plug the bicycling into,” Starks said. “Obviously, we couldn’t create another section or a new course, so we had to find something that was already being done, and this was a very good match.”

Lawrence High Senior Kelly Harrington makes her way through the water during the swimming leg of a team triathlon. LHS students enrolled in an aerobic-fitness class took part in the event Thursday at LHS.

The Ellsworth Correctional Facility and Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop made it possible to complete the curriculum. The correctional facility donated 25 bikes to LHS, and Sunflower donated labor and parts to ensure that the bikes were safe.

The revamped course could help Dobbins and the Obesity and Physical Activity Research Team (OPART) of the Kansas University Medical Center secure grant money to begin researching the benefits of teaching multi-sport events.

“What we are trying to do is address the need of physical activity for kids that are overweight or maybe obese,” said research assistant Dustin Morris, who was on hand for the triathlon. “So what we’re hoping to explore are some possible funding sources that will allow us to take this type of program to a much larger scale and scientifically study it and to see if there is any effectiveness of having the kids incorporate lifetime activities like running, biking and swimming into their physical education.”

• 6Sports video: LHS students compete in triathlon (11-03-05)

After speaking with a few of the girls who participated, Morris and his colleagues may be on to something.

Each girl completed a leg of a triathlon consisting of a mile run around the LHS track, a 300-yard swim inside Knox Natatorium and an eight-loop bike ride around the grass field near the track.

Lawrence High sophomore twins Kristina, left, and Jennifer Taylor are neck-and-neck during the running leg.

“It didn’t hurt as bad … when I first started the class, if I would have done it then, it would have been way worse,” said sophomore Jessi Garber, who did the bicycling leg. “I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish it, but with all the training, it’s easier.”

What was the consensus?

“It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done,” LHS senior Whitney Lopez said. “It wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t awful.”

Starks said she had seen improvement in the girls’ performances over the past nine weeks.

“We did a timed mile at the beginning of the semester, and about 99 percent of the girls dropped their times down when they ran again last week,” Starks said. “We’ve been gradually building to where they could run a 5K, which they all did on Monday. So now they know they can participate and are like, ‘I really did it – I could finish.’

Lawrence High sophomore Cieara Williams takes part in the biking leg of the team triathlon.

“At the beginning of the semester, some of them literally could not have completed a 5K, but they were all able.”

Dobbins and OPART will present what they gained from this activity at a national conference in the spring in an effort to get funding for research to support the idea of this new form of physical education.

“Potentially, when you start developing curriculums, it’s nice to have something proven,” Dobbins said. “So it’s nice to have that on the outskirts. To say, if something does happen then we have a place to do research for it. And it’s nice to have that proven.”