The HammerHeads are headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The area's top triathletes came together in November 1999 to form a club to increase awareness of our sport and to do something positive for the community. The 400-plus and growing club has members that are fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels in the North Florida, South Georgia area.

The distinctive HammerHead shark logo can be seen at local, state, national, and international triathlons. HammerHeads compete as age group, masters, and professionals. Team members race in Sprint, Olympic, Half Ironman, and Ironman races and National and World Championships. Members compete in local races as well as travel to different parts of the country to "tri" the larger popular races and some of the smaller races. The team has been represented at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and the 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater every year since our beginning.

This year the membership voted to support our local chapter of the national organization Girls on the Run. This is a program designed to teach life skills to girls aged 8-12 while training them to run a 5K. See www.GOTRneflorida.org.

Dedicated board members take care of the business end of the club. The monthly membership socials have a 30 minute presentation by triathlon or fitness experts, with the rest of the time devoted to carbo loading. The team initially held meetings in a bar at the beach, but it was noisy and the second-hand smoke was a problem. The club's membership has grown to include all parts of the city and we now meet at the Brooks Health and Fitness Center off JTB on the first Wednesdays of each month.

HammerHeads communicate via email (a lot) and the bi-monthly newsletter (which is on-line in color!). The newsletter lists training events and other news about the club and our members. HammerHeads participate in rides, runs and masters swim programs throughout the city. North Florida/South Georgia is the perfect place to train for triathlon. We even get in hill work (some people call them bridges). With the great weather, clean ocean, miles of open country roads, there is always something going on.

Each summer we sponsor three to four HAMMERJAMMERS free to our members. Each event features three different lengths of times to complete the three disciplines. It is designed to have everyone going at his/her own pace, yet return to the transition area at the same time. There are no officials, no t-shirts, no awards. This training event allows everyone to do a brick workout with other people, but still finish as a team.

During the winter, we encourage getting into shape with our HAMMERHEAD BRICKFEST. The challenge is 7 consecutive days of two different events each day with a minimum time requirement. It is free to our members and to those that are crazy enough to start and tough enough to finish we award a finisher's t-shirt. We have also participated in the USAT's National Club Challenge, a three-month competition where club members see which team can rack up the most miles in our three disciplines.

The club sponsors our own race, called the HammerHead Olympic Triathlon, in August, at Camp Blanding. See the website HammerHeadOlympicTriathlon.com for more information. Proceeds benefit several charities, including the Families of the Florida National Guard and the Youth Challenge Program. This is a popular race in a great venue.

The HammerHead Ocean Marathon is a new race we have added to our list of sponsored events. The 2.5 mile or 1.25 mile ocean swim keeps the swimmers parallel to shore in this point-to-point race. The first weekend in August is our usual date for this event.

New members receive a great looking t-shirt and all members can purchase HammerHead hats, socks, running tank tops and team uniforms.

If you are interested in any more information please contact club president Susan Wallis.