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13-Year-Old Takes Swimming Gold at Gramercy Indoor Triathlon

By Amy Zimmer | February 21, 2011 1:53pm

By Amy Zimmer

DNAinfo News Editor

GRAMERCY — Thirteen-year-old Justin Moldonado wanted to start off his school vacation by sleeping in on Monday morning.

Instead, his father, Ralph, dragged him out of bed at 6:30 a.m. to trek from their Bushwick home to participate together in an indoor triathlon at the Asser Levy Recreation Center on East 23rd Street and the FDR Drive.

"I wanted to stay home," Justin admitted after completing the triathlon circuit of 10 minutes each of swimming, on the stationary bike and on the treadmill. "But I feel good now. I might get an award."

Justin, the youngest of the 21 participants, did indeed get an award: first in swimming. He did 29 laps in 10 minutes.

"That little kid, he smoked us," said Mike West, 57. "Oh, to be young like that again."

Jason Fries, the manager of this Parks Department center who dreamed up the indoor triathlon was happy to have all ages partaking.

"We want to encourage fitness, healthy living and longevity," Fries, 32, said, noting that participants have ranged from teens to seniors recuperating from knee surgery.

"Anybody can do it," said Fries, who also participates in the event and hopes one day to do a real triathlon in the outdoors. "You push the limit if you want. If you want to go all out, you go all out. If you just want completion, that's fine, too. It's completion versus competition."

He hopes the event will grow despite limitations. For instance, they are limited to heats of three since there are only three stationary bikes, and they give participants a 10-minute break between the swim and bike to ensure they're fully dry before using the workout equipment.

Ralph Moldonado, 40, hoped the morning's triathlon would give his son, Justin, a taste for running and biking since he's already a stellar swimmer. Justin took second place last year in the Parks Department swim league, said Moldonado, a former lifeguard at Coney Island who participated in triathlons in the 1990s and got his son in the pool by the age of 6 months.

"I don't let him stay in and play video games all day," Moldonado said of his son. "When I was a kid we didn't have video games. We went outside to play."

While there were prizes awarded for the three individual sports, the overall winner of the event, Vance Clemente, said he participated with "equal parts determination and stupidity" and was icing a strained calf after his 27 laps, 7.02-mile bike and 1.83-mile run.

He plans to race with Michael J. Fox's Team Fox for Parkinson's research in the Nautica New York City Triathlon on Aug. 7, "if my body holds up," he said. That race includes a 1,500-meter swim in the Hudson River, a 40-kilometer bike along Manhattan's West Side Highway and a 10-kilometer run through Central Park.

"This is a good warm-up, but I have to train more," said Clemente, 42, who acknowledged racking up a lot of television time this winter. He expects to be able to hit the pool in a few days and return to jogging in a couple of weeks.

"It looks easier than it is," said Carleisha Forteau, 14, who plays soccer and does track and field for her high school. "By the time I got to the run, my legs started to hurt. I couldn't breathe. It isn't track or soccer season, so I let myself go."