Sandy Hook Victim Chase Kowalski Did First Triathlon at 6. Now Hundreds of Kids Are Following in His Footsteps

Mar. 15, 2025

Chase Kowalski.Photo:Rebecca Kowalski

Rebecca Kowalski

“Every day we miss him and feel his loss,” says Rebecca, whose 6-year-old son, Chase Michael Anthony Kowalski, along with 19 other first graders and six adults, were killed in theSandy Hook School shooting in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012.

When people ask her if she and her family do anything specialon Dec. 14,she explains, “The world gets to relive (the tragedy) on the anniversary. But we have relived it for the last 11 years."

Chase would have turned 18 on Oct. 31, she says.

This year, she says she wants to focus on the good that has come from that horrific day.

Chase Kowalski and his mother Rebecca Kowalski.Rebecca Kowalski

For her and her family – her husband, Stephen, and their two daughters, Brittany, 26, and Erin, 22 — it’s theRace4Chase Kids Triathlon Programand theCMAK Sandy Hook Memorial Foundationthey created in honor of the spunky little boy.

“What I have always said to the children is that it’s not important how he died,” she says. “What’s important is how he lived and how we remember him.”

Started in 2013, the Race4Chase just celebrated its 10th year of hosting triathlons for kids ages 6 through 12 this summer.

“It was amazing,” says Rebecca.

Each year, Race4Chase holds a free, six-week training program that provides kids with expert instruction in how to swim, bike and run in preparation for a triathlon, according to the foundation website.

Race4Chase 2023.Rebecca Kowalski

The foundation gives YMCAs funding to hold the program each summer. As of December, 29 YMCAs in Connecticut and three other states have agreed to host a triathlon this year, says Rebecca.

Inspiration from a Pint-Sized Triathlete

Rebecca remembers her son Chase as a “cool” little boy, she says.

“He was the third child, so he had to be easygoing,” she says. “He rode a pink tricycle because he had two sisters that were older than him. But he didn’t care, that was fine. At least he had a tricycle to ride.”

When he was three, Rebecca brought him to his sister’s track meet. She was taken aback when he said, “Mommy! I want to do that!’” she recalls.

He went on to run a 50-yard dash before graduating to a 100-meter dash and then a 400-meter race.

She remembers him telling her that he wanted to do “that race where you swim and bike and run,” she says.

She initially thought, “That’s crazy. You’re 6.”

But there he was in the summer of 2012 racing in his first triathlon at age 6.

For that reason, Rebecca designed the program for kids ages 6 to 12. “We figured, with the older kids, if they weren’t doing triathlons already, they weren’t starting,” she says. “We figured if we got them at a younger age, got them to fall in love with it and got the self-esteem boost that Chase got from it, that it could change their lives immensely.”

Not only is building self-esteem and confidence a huge part of the program, so is making sure kids are kind to each other.

In that 400-meter race, a little boy who finished ahead of Chase circled back to help him cross the finish line, she remembers.

That has now become an unofficial tradition with the Race4Chase triathlons, she says.

“Pretty much every year at a finale, when the last person is struggling to cross that finish line, these kids will rally around and yell and scream and cheer and support and run with that athlete to make sure they cross the finish line,” she says.

“I think that’s the aspect of Chase, that he remembered that when he was little, that somebody helped him cross that finish line. That’s what we do, we help each other. They all do it.”

“The social and emotional bonding that these kids get from going to the camp together, working on their swimming skills, working on their biking skills, working on their running skills as a team, even though triathlon is an individual sport, they’re still a team," she says. “They still want to help and make sure that every team member gets across that finish line. You have kids that are six years old to, kids that are 12 years old, and the older kids help the little kids and all in between.”

Rebecca Kowalski.Michael Klein @Flight_Above

Michael Klein @Flight_Above

Rebecca’s hope is that the program extends to even more states to get kids moving, just like her son loved to do.

“The fact is that I can’t change that. The only thing we can change is how we react to it and how we let Chase’s light shine on.”

source: people.com