It takes a lot of hard work to become a certified Race Director.
Craig is now recertified as a USA Triathlon Level II Certified RD! Maintaining this certification ensures Craig is up-to-date with requirements to put on safe & professional races for athletes.
‘𝕿𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖔𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌!🎁
We are offering you the opportunity to give the gift of racing this holiday season!
Purchase a gift in the amount of $50, $75, $100, or $200 toward race credits for that special someone.
The races eligible for this gift are those in the 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗵𝗶𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Deer Creek, Maumee Bay, The Queen City, Portage Lakes, & Ohio Fall Challenge.
𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦: For each $100 purchased, we will either (1) add the $25 credit to the “sender’ account or (2) add the $25 credit to the ‘recipient” account. Just let us know!
Don’t delay! This holiday gift program runs through December 24!
Give that gift that s/he WILL really want this year!
Click the link below for full details!
We are excited to announce the addition of the 𝗠𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟮 to the Salt Fork Triathlons lineup! The mixed relay will consist of 2 females & 2 males on each team. Each person on the team will race a sprint triathlon and then tag the next member of their team to complete a sprint triathlon.
If you had a chance to catch the Olympics this year, the Mixed Relay was a talked-about event & had us on the edge of our seats! This is a fun way to get your friends involved on teams to even have fun competing against each other! Get signed up today! Click this link.
We appreciate your continued support of HFP Racing!
To say we are looking forward to the 2022 racing season is an understatement!
We look forward to watching your training journey as you get ready to race with us next year!
– HFP Racing Team
The 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗱𝗮𝘆-𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘 is today! For individual races in the State of Ohio Series and Tri-The-Heights, save 𝟮𝟮% by using the code 𝟮𝟮𝗙𝗢𝗥𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 at check out.
𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗵𝗶𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀
Deer Creek at Deer Creek State Park
June 11 | Youth races
June 12 | Adult races
Maumee Bay at Maumee Bay State Park
June 25 | Youth races
June 26 | Adult races
The Queen City at Caesar Creek State Park
July 16 | Youth races
July 17 | Adult races
Portage Lakes at Portage Lakes State Park
September 11 | Adult races
Ohio Fall Challenge at Deer Creek State Park
September 25 | Adult races
𝗧𝗿𝗶-𝗧𝗵𝗲-𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
September 3 | Youth races
To register visit HFP Racing’s website
Want to sign up for the State of Ohio Series? No discount code is needed as you will already be saving!
6 Series Package & 5 Series Package
𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙊𝙝𝙞𝙤 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙏𝙧𝙞-𝙏𝙝𝙚-𝙃𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 1!
Mark your calendars for December 1 because we will be offering a 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗱𝗮𝘆-𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘! Stay tuned to social media for more details!
𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗵𝗶𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀
Deer Creek at Deer Creek State Park
June 11 | Youth races
June 12 | Adult races
Maumee Bay at Maumee Bay State Park
June 25 | Youth races
June 26 | Adult races
The Queen City at Caesar Creek State Park
July 16 | Youth races
July 17 | Adult races
Portage Lakes at Portage Lakes State Park
September 11 | Adult races
Ohio Fall Challenge at Deer Creek State Park
September 25 | Adult races
𝗧𝗿𝗶-𝗧𝗵𝗲-𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
September 3 | Youth races
𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘍𝘪𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦: 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2022 – 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘚𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 31!
We are excited to bring back some favorite race locations & youth races for 2022!
On December 1 registration opens for the: State of Ohio Series, Tri Fit Challenge, & Tri-The-Heights!
You won’t want to miss the registration announcement as we will have a 𝙤𝙣𝙚-𝙙𝙖𝙮-𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙎𝙐𝙋𝙀𝙍 𝙎𝘼𝙇𝙀! Stay tuned to your inbox & social media for more details!
🏁𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗢𝗛𝗜𝗢 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦
𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
June 11 | Youth races
June 12 | Adult races
𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
June 25 | Youth races
June 26 | Adult races
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
July 16 | Youth races
July 17 | Adult races
𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
September 11 | Adult races
𝗢𝗵𝗶𝗼 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
September 25 | Adult races
🏁𝗧𝗥𝗜 𝗙𝗜𝗧
Columbus, Ohio
July 31
🏁𝗧𝗥𝗜-𝗧𝗛𝗘-𝗛𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 (youth races)
Grandview Heights, Ohio
September 3
——–
Races that are already open for registration:
🏁𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗟𝗘-𝗧
Salt Fork State Park
May 20-22
🏁𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗦
Salt Fork State Park
May 21-22
🏁𝗧𝗥𝗜 𝗖𝗟𝗘
Cleveland, Ohio
August 20
For detailed information on these races, visit our website: https://hfpracing.com/
𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 2022, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘬, 𝘔𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘺, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴.
There are many details to prep for races and to ensure that race day goes smoothly.
We are looking for people who have a passion for multisport and running races to join the HFP Racing crew!
Open positions are as follows:
• Athlete Services Coordinator (Northern Ohio)
• Course Coordinator (Central/Southern Ohio)
• Course Coordinators (Northern Ohio
Review the description and requirements for each role. Serious candidates, send resume with relevant experience to: craig.thompson@hfpracing.com.
Enjoy the buzz and high energy of multisport and running races? Want to know the behind-the-scenes of how races operate? Want to be a part of a team that enjoys helping people achieve their race goals?
We are hiring 2 positions: Event Coordinator & Contract Event Race Director.
Review the description and requirements for each role. Serious candidates, send resume with relevant experience to: craig.thompson@hfpracing.com.
Registration is open for the American Triple-T races, which will take place at Salt Fork State Park on May 20 -22, 2022. Register for the XT or ST distance as an individual or as a relay team!
Salt Fork Triathlons
Saturday | Super Sprint & Sprint*
Sunday | Olympic* & Half Iron*
*These races can be raced as an individual or on a relay team.
Plus Aquabike options for Super Sprint, Sprint, Olympic, & Half Iron distances.
Stone House 50/50 Trail Runs
Friday | Free 5K Trail Run (Family Friendly)
Saturday | Individual: 10 Miler, 20 Miler, 50 Miler trail runs | Relay: 50 Miler (Team of 4)
Sunday | Individual: 50K, 10 Miler | Relay Team: 50K (Team of 2)
Salt Fork Lodging
There are rooms available at the conference center (lodge) and cabins for a discounted rate for the weekend.
Call the reservation line at 740-435-9000 to reserve a room under the American Triple T block.
Want to go a bit more rustic for the weekend? Salt Fork State Park has many camping & RV options.
Room rates are available until Friday, March 18, 2022
It’s been so incredibly emotional reading the Facebook comments from my post as I watched the HFP Racing trucks and trailers leave the property for the final time. I wanted so badly to respond to all the comments, as so many brought back even more memories. I’ve always felt writing was my best was to express myself and as I went through historical photos the memories came flooding back…I knew I had to share my thoughts on how truly blessed Jennifer and I are to have these memories.
THE START; It was 1989 and I was a freshman at Ball State University sitting in the Exercise 101 class (my favorite class). Next to me sat a beautiful red head that seemed to be checking me out (my version of the story). I tore a section of paper out of my notebook and wrote the words “Hi, I’m Shannon. I’m the president of Health and Fitness Promotions” and passed it over to her. She quickly returned the note with her response “I’m Jennifer Butler, my friends call me JB. How can I get involved”. Little did either of us know at the time but that brief encounter would change our lives forever. I only made it one semester at Ball State as I had other plans and it all revolved around multisport racing and race promotion.
But before JB, the entire Kurek family was already doing whatever it took to get Health and Fitness Promotions (before it became HFP Racing) up and running and preparing for the first annual Mid-Ohio Heart Clinic Challenge in September of 1989. My Aunt Sandi was a massive supporter and as the Wellness Director at the local hospital was pivotal in keeping things moving along while I spent too much time training. Sandi orchestrated the securing of the title sponsor, Mid-Ohio Heart Clinic, and we were off to the races. To get geared up for triathlon we put together the Mid-Ohio Bicycle Series and my Marion, Ohio training buddies Brian Shind and Shawn Williams joined me as we were baptized by fire as first time race promoters. Also, helping was my brother and a great group of locals that included Mike Marcum, Art Hoffman and my amazing Grandpa, Carl Kurek, who served as the official lead truck for all the bike races that summer.
Jennifer and I would not of ever communicated again would it not of been for Jennifer’s “friend update letters” that I continued to receive over the next couple of years. Finally, we connected again in summer of 1991 as I drove through Cincinnati on my way to race in Louisville, KY. That was an awesome summer of traveling to races and getting to know “JB” as my new best friend.
THE PEOPLE; The early years were made possible by many, many amazing people that simple showed up and helped with whatever was needed. Curt Haywood was an early training buddy that I could always count on and I can remember sharing with Curt my vision after a hard track session at the Worthington High School track. “Curt, I just want to put on races that my friends can come to, so we can all have a great time together”. It was never about a building a business but always about the experience I wanted to be able to provide to the participants. In the early years, training buddies like Adam Moyer, Don Chandler, Scott Anderson, Dave McMahon, and Tom Knopp traveled to the early series venues and trained with me all day while Jennifer, my Mom, my Aunt and Jennifer’s Mom worked packet pickup. Then around 9:00pm the night before the race we’d all get together and start to set the race venue up.
THE EARLY YEARS; I look back at these photos and almost can’t believe how things came together. We were pioneers. There was not a template out there on how to produce triathlons so each race was part of our education at the School of Hard Knocks. We made many mistakes but no one was going to outwork us or put more passion into a race than our motley crew of multisport misfits.
THE MARRIAGE OF MY BEST FRIEND; Surrounded by the same group of family and friends that helped us at every race JB became Jennifer Kurek on April 17, 1993.
THE RACING; Of course it’s always been about the racing and thanks to some great “sponsorship” from our parents we got to travel the world in the early 90’s to race.
THE BIG BREAK; In 1994 with the help of Joe Moyer of Moyer Financial Group, Larry Denny of Saturn of Columbus, the Saturn Duathlon was born. The event would feature an international field of professionals and featured a spectator friendly, never before done, multi-lap format which became the standard for the modern day ITU World Cup events. The following month the race would be featured on the cover of Triathlete Magazine.
THE STAFF; Simply put, the staff for HFP Racing has always been the best…regardless of the season, our team seemed to always come together in a very unique way. Most of our past staff remain our dear friends today. In the early years, HFP Racing continued to be supported by our family and friends but as our schedule grew so was our need for staff members that could handle the grind of long weekends, tent camping and eventually squeezing into a camper. Over the years our staff have provided us with some truly amazing adventures producing events.
THE VOICE OF HFP; No other person changed HFP Racing more than Rich Fowler, the official voice of HFP Racing. His infectious personality and amazing attention to get to know the participants took us to another level. It all started when Jennifer put him to work one weekend when he was asking too many questions at packet pickup on an early race morning. Seriously, Rich was just a nervous newbie duathlete hanging around the registration tents asking way too many questions. Finally, Jennifer put a mic in his hand and told him to make some pre-race announcements… the rest as they say is history.
THE ONES WE LOST; It’s never easy to say goodbye to anyone but some of our multisport family left us much too early. They will never be forgotten.
THE KUREK KIDS; no one in the Kurek family sacrificed more for HFP Racing over the last 15 years than the Kurek kids. Henry, Maddy and Ezra missed many a birthday party, ball game and neighborhood overnights during race season and they always took it in stride. Packing up their bikes, scooters and miscellaneous toys and heading to another HFP Racing event was commonplace for our kids and rarely a compliant was heard.
THE SURVIVOR; Along with being an amazing mother, business partner and wife, Jennifer is a cancer survivor. Under going radiation treatments in the morning and driving down to the American Triple-T to work 80+ hours without a complaint in 2010. Jennifer never missed a single event in 2010 due to her cancer treatment. In 2021 Jennifer celebrated 11 years being cancer FREE!!! WHAT A WOMAN!
THE TEAM; It was always so important that HFP Racing had a strong team and each year dozens of athletes claimed their spots on the team. So many special memories come from Team HFP and the amazing athletes that make up this team to this day.
THE THINGS WE WILL MISS THE MOST; HFP Racing will never fade from our memories and the last 32 years were an amazing journey. Of course there will be some things that we will miss more than others…here are the top 5.
THE FUTURE…WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE KUREKS; Our kids can finally count on mom and dad not missing any more birthdays or ball games and our relatives will finally see us at a wedding between May and September. Ezra turned 15 this year and is pursuing his dream of playing in the MLB putting in workouts 7 days a week and traveling with his travel baseball team across the country. Maddy is a 3 sport athlete and a straight A student. She recently got her drivers license and can drive herself to those many year-round practices. Henry graduated from C-Tech in 2019 and is already part of the work force for nearly 2 years. He still loves sessions at the Newark Skate Park on his scooter and spending most of his paycheck on his Mazda Speed 3. Jennifer is enjoying being able to manage all the many obligations that the kids activities require and keeping up with my constant entrepreneurial spirit. I will expanding my responsibilities as operations director at M3S Sports and will be staying involved in the sport of triathlon as a participant. I can’t wait to see many of you at a race in the near future.
Thanks to everyone for blessing our lives…it was a heck of a run!
Jennifer, Maddy, Shannon, Ezra and Henry
HFP Racing News 