The first Tri-Carson, a reverse triathlon that consists of a 5K run, a 12-mile bike ride, and a 200-meter swim will take place on Saturday, Oct. 23, on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills and surrounding streets just east of the university. The event, which is co-sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, is presented by the City of Carson, the Carson Chamber of Commerce, and CSU Dominguez Hills.
David Gamboa, director of government and community relations at CSU Dominguez Hills says that he is looking forward to the Tri-Carson event as an opportunity to showcase the campus and expose more people to the university.
“Of the individuals who will be participating from throughout the state of California, I’m anticipating that this is the first time that many of them have been on this campus,” he says. “We’re out to identify Dominguez Hills as not only in the city of Carson but in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County.”
Denise Maruffo, business development analyst for the city of Carson and an MPA student at CSU Dominguez Hills, came up with the idea for Tri-Carson while researching a project for a statistics class on triathletes.
“I started looking up who the triathlete is, and you can see that their incomes are pretty high,” says Maruffo. “Putting my business development hat on, I figured that these are the people we want in Carson, taking classes, shopping, being business owners, and season ticket holders at the Home Depot Center. I thought this would be a great way to bring people to Carson and to introduce the campus.”
Maruffo says that the information and coupons that will be given to participants on the day of the event will hopefully entice those who live out of the Carson area to return to the city for shopping, dining, entertainment – and even an education.
“Hopefully they’ll come back [to CSU Dominguez Hills]… the next time they want to take a continuing education class,” she says. “It will be something that they weren’t aware of in the past.”
Gamboa says that many members of Greek organizations at CSU Dominguez Hills will serve as volunteers for Tri-Carson and he hopes that they will be encouraged by what they see to participate the next time, as well as begin to acquire an awareness of healthy living.
“This event will get the students to connect with the community and understand the importance of health and nutrition,” says Gamboa (Class of ’05, B.A., communications), former president of Associated Students, Inc. “As college students, their level of awareness of those issues is not that high. It will make them better students by teaching them to balance out fitness, nutrition and health with their academics.”
Maruffo, herself a triathlete who recently completed the L.A. Triathlon and the “Race on the Base” at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base in Long Beach last February, says that, “Obviously it’s something I’m passionate about. We can expose children and adults to a new sport that promotes a better and healthier lifestyle.”
For registration and more information on Tri-Carson, click here.
