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When more than 1,800 people hit the pavement, climb onto their road bikes and enter the chilly, treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay this Sunday, 12-year-old Nicholas Paulson will be among them.
The youngest to compete in the annual Accenture Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, the Pleasanton Middle School sixth-grader says he hopes he’s able to finish the race.
“I’m definitely nervous, but I am excited for finishing,” said Nicholas, who turns 12 Friday.
Alongside him will be his father Jim, who will also be competing in the race for the first time.
“This is the big one, the one we’ve been building up to,” Jim Paulson said. “The swim is probably the biggest concern not because of the distance or because we think we can’t do it, but just because of the reputation of it–that no prisoner ever made it. There are also sea lions and sharks. That’s a minor concern.”
When father and son start the race, they will be participating with hundreds of top athletes from across the world. The race features a 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco shoreline, an 18-mile bike ride through the Presidio and an 8-mile trail run through Golden Gate Park.
This will be the pair’s fourth race together and it has been meaningful because Nicholas has a hard time entering races at his age.
“We were shocked that we actually got into it and really thrilled,” he said. “We signed up for other triathlons and people said ‘no, he’s too young,’ so it’s great that the organizers of this triathlon support youths in sports.”
Nicholas began doing triathlons after his dad encouraged him to try an athletic event that would give him a new experience.
“He’s not going to win this race; it’s just more achievement oriented than traditional sports,” Jim Paulson said.
“I have found triathlons to be one of the few sports where a parent can go through the exact same experience as their kids,” he continued. “It is different than baseball, football and soccer because in those sports, an adult can not play on the same team as the youth.”
But Nicholas plans to continue playing competitive sports as well as participating in endurance events.
The rest of the Paulson family is also fitness-oriented. Nicholas’ mother Marianne is an ultra runner and his brother Thomas, 13, is a mountain biker and will be participating in two mountain bike triathlons this month.
Training for this weekend’s race has included swimming at Shadow Cliffs Regional Park.
“The first thing that we did was we swam at Shadow Cliffs in January and it was cold. The water was upper 40s and lower 50s, but it was actually good training because the (San Francisco) Bay is 65 degrees,” Jim Paulson said.
Nicholas’ classmates are excited, but wary for him, too.
“My friend in P.E. class says ‘you’re gonna die.’ They definitely can’t believe it,” he said.
But Nicholas keeps everything into perspective.
“I’ve been the youngest in all the triathlons I’ve done. It’s just fun to be the youngest one with people cheering for me,” he said. “When I’m old enough, I want to do the Half-Ironman.”
And dad also has confidence in his son’s ability.
“He may not be able to throw the hardest or run the fastest, but probably one of his strengths athletically is that he doesn’t give up,” Jim Paulson said. “That obviously fits well in an endurance event.”
While the triathlon may be upstaging Nicholas’ 12th birthday celebration, it won’t be going unnoticed.
“When I finish the race, the week after, we’re having a birthday party,” he said.
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Nicholas Paulson, who turns 12 Friday, practices for the swim to Alcatraz Island last weekend at the San Francisco Aquatic Park -
To practice for the triathlon, which features swimming, running and biking, Nicholas ran at the Pleasanton Ridge. -
Nicholas bikes alonside his dad Jim, who is also participating in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon on Sunday.
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