Iron Kids: Sherwin family brings home medals from national event Published Oct. 6, 2011 By Mike W. Ray Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Colonel and Mrs. Charles Sherwin took their five children to West Des Moines, Iowa, recently for to the IronKids National Championship. The Edmond family returned home with a van full of trophies and memories. "It was awesome!" gushed Victoria Sherwin. IronKids is the children's equivalent of the IronMan endurance contest. In IronKids, youngsters ages 6 to 15 compete in age-appropriate distances "with an emphasis on fitness, fun and safety." IronKids has three divisions. In the Junior Division, children 6-8 swim 50 yards, bicycle for two miles, then run 500 yards. In the Intermediate Division, children 9-11 swim 150 yards, bike four miles and run one mile. In the Senior Division, contestants 12-15 years of age swim 300 yards, bike eight miles and run two miles. All five Sherwin children -- Katrina, 14; Alexis, 12; Victoria, 10; Ben, 8; and Thérèse, 6 -- qualified for the IronKids U.S. Championship by their performance in the Oklahoma City IronKids triathlon Aug. 21. Because of chilly weather in Iowa on Sept. 17, the day of the national championship, the swimming leg of the competition was canceled and instead the athletes ran extra distances: Junior Division, 400 yards; Intermediate Division, 800 yards; Senior Division, 1,200 yards. At the national event -- which drew more than 1,200 athletes from 35 states, Canada and Mexico -- four of the Sherwin children placed first and one came in third. They competed in the Military Division, which was comprised of children of active-duty and reserve military personnel. All five received medals and earned plaques, too. This was the first time the children had competed in IronKids. Colonel Sherwin said he saw the event last year at Lake Hefner, "and we thought it would be neat," said Katrina. "I thought it was going to be a lot of fun," Alexis added. Under the watchful eyes of their parents, the children maintained a strict regimen of training and diet. The youngsters would arise at 6 a.m. daily to run or bike-ride before the thermometer started climbing. According to Ben, one day they'd focus on swimming; the next day, biking; the following day, running. They ran and biked at Mitch Park in Edmond, and swam laps in the pool at the Tinker Gerrity Fitness and Sports Center. Since the swimming portion of the competition was intended to be conducted in open water, their mother, Lisa, drove the children to the rural home of their physical education instructor, who lives north of Waterloo Road and has a 40-acre lake. They were determined to get acclimated, because unlike an indoor pool, a lake has no wall from which to push off. The children performed push-ups and sit-ups and played soccer, too. IronKids and soccer "complemented each other," Mrs. Sherwin said. Running to get in shape for the IronKids competition "gave us endurance for soccer," Katrina explained. The children concentrated on nutrition, too. In preparation for IronKids, their diets featured foods high in protein and carbohydrates and low in fats and sugars. Their goals were the President's Challenge Physical Fitness Test. "We used those standards to determine what levels we should strive for," Katrina said. A highlight of the children's trip to the national contest was getting to meet Hunter Kemper, who encouraged their endeavors. Mr. Kemper was a five-time national champion of IronKids, and has competed in three Olympics (2000, 2004 and 2008). All of the Sherwin children, incidentally, are straight-A students at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parochial school in Edmond. Pointing to the obesity epidemic among children in Oklahoma and throughout the United States, Charles and Lisa Sherwin said they hope to get more Tinker families involved in IronKids "for health, fitness and fun." Colonel Sherwin, a 25-year veteran of the Air Force, is the B-1 System Program Manager at Tinker AFB. He participated in the 2000 Panama City, Fla., IronMan and the Redman competition Sept. 24 in Oklahoma City. The colonel is an advocate of the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command's Wellness program, which consists of four dimensions: physical, social, emotional and spiritual health.