2018 was a big year for little athletes in Boulder County. Eight-year-old Leyton Hill of Longmont became the youngest person ever to complete the sprint distance in the Boulder Sunset Triathlon on Aug. 25. He swam, biked and ran the course with his dad, Tanner Hill, in three hours and 25 minutes and had a distinct disadvantage in the cycling leg of the event.
“I did twelve miles on a one-speed little, tiny mountain bike,” he said.
“Everyone else in this triathlon had super-intense $10,000 road bikes, and here he was on this Walmart bike,” his mother, Sarah Hill, added.
Another local celebrity on the athletics scene is Caleb Tucker, a 10-year-old from Boulder who recently competed in the first season of “American Ninja Warrior Junior.” Mother Susan Tucker says he has been watching “American Ninja Warrior” since he was 3 and counting down the years until he could apply. Still 10 years too young for the adult version, when the junior race was announced he applied immediately.
Caleb remembers the other contestants standing around with determined scowls before the competition, but says he handled his nerves differently.
“I was dancing all over the place,” he said. You can spot Caleb in his donut socks on “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” and look out for Leyton Hill at next year’s Boulder Sunset Triathlon.
—Sara Bruskin
