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Providing opportunities and supporting those who are disabled so that they can pursue active lifestyles is the mission for the Challenge Athletes Foundation. The Triathlon Club was a part of accomplishing this mission as it took part in the San Diego Triathlon in La Jolla on Sunday.

The triathlon was held on La Jolla Cove from 7 a.m. to about 9 a.m. with schools other than Cerritos such as the University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, and Point Loma University, as well as 600 to 800 other participants between the ages of 14 to 62 years old.

It consisted of a one mile swim in the ocean, followed by a 44 mile bike ride, and then a 10 mile run.

President of the Triathlon Club, Christopher De Maree and his club prepared for the event as they discussed how they planned to raise money for the Disabled Athletes Foundation at their weekly Thursday meeting.

“Whether they’re missing a leg or they have some sort of disorder, they go beyond what normal limits people think that people can do, especially with disabilities and they prove everybody wrong and so that’s a really big factor for a lot of triathlons and so that’s why we want to go that route,” De Maree said on Thursday about why the club decided to support the disabled.

In the past couple of years, the Triathlon Club has hosted a triathlon at Cerritos College in June and they plan to have another one this year. A certain percentage of the proceeds will go toward the Disabled Athletes Foundation.

Vice President of the Triathlon Club, Orlando Alfaro said on Thursday about if the Triathlon was going to be bigger this year, “It seems like it. We’ve been getting a lot more members, everyone’s been a lot more competitive, and people just love this sport and it shows.”

About seven or eight club members volunteered to set up the course as well as direct participants in the right direction during the race.

This was the second triathlon that the Cerritos Triathlon Club has competed in this year. It also competed the week prior at the Playa Del Rey Triathlon, with about 17 club members racing.

Its next triathlon will be the Tinsel Triathlon on Dec. 11 at West Valley High School in Hemet.