Tridonkey

I rarely use my blog for anything other than to further my personal agenda. But my good friend, Krum, has asked me to direct people to a website of his. Krum has told me that even if you aren't a triathlete "You can still sign up and banter with brownie and rust. Brownie is signing up now. Get as many people on your blog to sign up, even if they just put up a profile and say they are donkeys."

Here is probably too much information, but it is some the background of the site.

"Tridonkey started in Minnesota with a small group of people who loved to train and race triathlons. We didn’t really belong to a team or a training group, nor did any of the local fee based options really appeal to us. We trained together when we could, and added in specialized training with coaches and sport specific experts when needed.

We notice a bunch of people and exclusive “teams” out there that seemed to have lost the plot on the true purpose of sport…..the ability to relate to other human beings, achieve more as a group than an individual, and to have lots of fun! We deemed these people “donkeys”

Where did the term originate?

Ironically the term Tridonkey came from the latin word “tridonk” which originated in December of 2003 in an irish bar in Ottawa Canada. This word was first invoked minutes after a heated dispute, that was leaning towards a fist fight, as to who the greatest soccer player in the world was (Zinadine Zadan or Terry Henry). Just prior to me and my friend Declan Bonner coming to blows with 3 skinny overmatched youths, the cook of the bar appeared (apparently to help us out) shirtless and unfit, and shouted “I will knock all three of you out with one punch!”. This drunken threat of a magical punch that could knock three guys out at once stopped the testosterone in its tracks, and the five of us that were not the shirtless cook turned, looked at him, and all started to laugh. Within minutes we were all back inside sharing a pint and laughing about the “tridonk” the most feared punch in the land. The term tridonk sort of hung around for a few years (mostly between Declan and I), and then as I became more involved in triathlon, it was a perfect label for our little counter culture.

It is just as hard to push 25MPH on a full carbon bike with an aero-helmet in your 15th race as it is to push 15 MPH on someone else’s mountain bike in soccer shorts and a cotton T-shirt in your first race…both people experience the same pain, the same rush, the same confusion in being passed by someone who looks like they should not be passing you, the same sense of achievement (not that that person is the same person, nor the person writing this).

And I will argue that the inclusivity I felt from the people that took me under their wing and trained with me and put up with my lack of understanding of what it took to get to that 25MPH were the only reason I got there. 4 years of doing it all wrong was changed in under a year based on being taken in by the tridonkeys. That sense of support and good will from people you are racing with and against is a great aspect to life and to sport.

Anyone who has lined up for their first mass start triathlon knows the fear, the intimidation, the uncertainty, and the overall confusion of starting and finishing your first triathlon. We formalized Tridonkey as a means to lower the barrier for more people to join the sport and have fun doing so. It is a complex sport even though it seems straight forward. Swim, Bike, Run. But we know it is not, a million questions, a million different answers.

Without Rambling on. Tridonkey is a community, a team for everyone, you can be on an elite team and still be a Tridonkey, you can be signing up for a 5K in Delaware, or your first sprint triathlon in Idaho and be a Tridonkey. The only requirement is that you remember this is fun, you give back (to the sport, to your community, to those in need) and you have friends that will slash your tires and smack you around if ever forget your Tridonkey roots and become a full fledged donkey. Don’t get me wrong, In the end it is still a race, and during the race I want to do as well as I possibly can, but before, during and after, I will always want the best for my fellow tridonkeys. It is just nice to beat them so they have to buy my burger, malt and Belgian beers post race."

Those are Krum's words not mine. So if you are interested in joining the website here is the link:

Tridonkey.com.

I also have a link on my main blog page.