EDITOR,
The 14th Squamish Youth Triathlon on Mother’s Day was the biggest ever, selling out in both the main event and the inaugural Tiny Tri. Mother Nature came through big time, although weather never seems to matter to SYT kids who have huge smiles on their faces, rain or shine.
This year’s event was really a great one. Racers had professional-looking number tattoos and SYT logos, we had the funky and fabulous TOM Community Vehicle with live music on the deck, and the announcer shared info about each child as they finished. Generous sponsors enabled us to buy our own awesome finish line arch, which is now available for other youth sports events in Squamish. And, like always, we had tons of smiling happy kids.
It really is all about the kids… or at least, it usually is. This year, some parents who objected to one of our sponsors staged a race-day protest by having their kids sport anti-LNG shirts and tattoos. We didn’t feel it was the time or place for that, but it didn’t cause any trouble.
BUT, The Chief newspaper making the protest the absolute front and centre focus of the Youth Tri, well, I think that IS a problem. The event involves a ton of hard work for months by a core group of dedicated volunteers, supported by up to 100 race-day vollies. All of our efforts and everything about the event is 100 per cent focussed on kids having fun. It is a sanctioned Kids of Steel event and their motto is “every finisher is a winner.” All the kids who participated are winners in our eyes, and they deserved their community newspaper to recognize that, not bury it on page 31 behind two segments highlighting the protest. One article about the protest, OK. But to use a photo of a participant wearing a protest shirt on the front page of the paper next to an article about LNG and then to put another piece about the protest 10 pages later, both well before a reader gets anywhere close to an article and photos actually celebrating the kids, that is just plain wrong.
I am disappointed in the reporter’s choices, and angry that the paper allowed it to run this way. But more than anything, I am sad for over 250 SYT kids who did an amazing thing last Sunday, and got overshadowed by politics and selfish reporting.
Roz Gilbert
Squamish
