While things like the gymnastics events and others would show parts of the wide variety of events that would go on as part of the IAC, part of the biggest events for the year were the track and field events, particularly with the IAC essentially being Animalia's equivalent to the Olympics. Many of these events were outdoors, and particularly many of the throwing events where the ability of Animalians to throw objects had to be taken into account. While things like the Claw Coliseum were built to a scale that certain running events and sports could be held indoors if necessary, and were even large enough that certain sports could be played indoors as well, much of that was more a coincidence that came from the scaling up of the interior spaces to suit many Animalians' size.
However, things like the shock-put, javelin throw, and other throwing sports wouldn't have that ability. Largely due to the characteristics of an Animalian's strength combined with the characteristics of a heavy object in flight. While Animalians that were from animals smaller than Humans like Sophie, Roland, JC, Pauline, Jessica, and Roger could manage throwing shock puts that Lyre High had in stock, which had been part of their testing for suitable equipment for the specialized events for this years IAC before the IAC got started, as Animalians got larger in size, their strength jumped heavily with it. Tiger Animalians like Shiva and Durga and Lion Animalians like Aslan and Blanca had fair less difficulty with those things than Sophie or Jessica did. For Rhinoceros and Elephant Animalians, like Nzinga and Elly Nozdrin they had it even easier. The Dinotopians then had that even easier, as Sophie and Roland even got one shot of Andrew and Jen playing bare handed catch with one of Glen Rose High School shock puts as though the weight were a baseball and having no problem throwing it overhand.
This had meant that for many of the throwing events, like other things Animalia needed, had to be specifically built to cater to the needs of Animalians. Javelins and shock puts were made larger so that they would have the weight to be challenging to an Animalian and wouldn't be such that it would be like throwing a pencil. This then in turn carried its own sets of issues that kept the throwing events outdoors. While they could scale the equipment up to the Animalians in question, that did NOT necessarily mean that the Claw Coliseum was designed for it or could afford an errant throw. For while a ball bearing and Elly's shock put might have the same composition, there was a considerable size difference between the two and that shock put could do a lot of damage to things like seats or people if their was an accident. Thus the throwing events were still outdoors and in a way that any throw would be going away from the crowd. But that had done fairly well, and even in the heat people had the energy to celebrate, particularly those that had won.
"Did you see?" Elly asked as she approached her parents who'd clapped from the stands as she participated in shock put throw. "The judges said it was a record!"
"Yes, dear," Mrs. Nozdrin smiled and took her daughter's gray hands in her own and patted the back of Elly's hand.
The fact that Elly's hands dwarfed her mother's couldn't be ignored. Elly could see it clearly and did her best made sure that she didn't put any stress on her mother. She smiled and let her mother pat the back of her hands.
"I'm surprised they could even find it with all the sand that was kicked up by the landing," Mr. Nozdrin commented, referring to the small cloud of sand that had puffed up when the shock put hit it.
"That was just sand, and it's the same sand they would use in Russia too," Elly laughed, "I'm mostly glad to have been able to compete. It was fun."
Her parents nodded and there were some smiles on all sides. They were all pleased to see how well their daughter had adapted and gotten used to things in Animalia. There was the issue for the future after the IAC that would determine Elly's fate and liking returning to Russia or going through the process of naturalization assuming the present government allowed her to legally immigrate as a White Rhinoceros. But for the moment, Elly was content to enjoy the win.
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However, the summer heat brought a few number of events inside, and particularly those events that would test the athlete's endurance the most. The triathlon was one of them. Abby didn't mind this, as she had noted how hot the summer had seemed to be so far. She'd managed specialized Human versus Animalian races to demonstrate the reasons for some of the differences between Humans and Animalians and thus explain why Animalians didn't get much in the way of opportunities with sports outside of Animalia and why the IAC was for Animalians only, but that was with only a small number races and a good break between them. The triathlon was a bit different and was more of a grueling race and thus a different route for the race.
"Well... this will be a bit different from last IAC's race," Durga said to Abby as they looked over the schedule for the race once it was moved inside.
Abby nodded as she looked at the schedule. They started inside the Claw Coliseum with the biking section of the race and that they had a whole host of judges that would keep track of each racer's time. They would then cover the distance required for the biking portion in the triathlon before moving to the pool areas. While moving between the main floor of the Claw Coliseum to the pool area, the times would be stopped and the racers would be allowed to walk, but once everyone was there, they would be tasked to dive in and swim up and down until they'd covered the distance required and again their times would start counting again when the signal to start again was given. The stopping of time to allow them to move back to the main arena floor would then go again as they moved back to finish the race in the running portion where the official start process would go again. It was very different from the first time the IAC was done, but at the present time it was too hot to do it all outside there was concerns of heat-stroke and heat-stress in the heat. And while they could in theory postpone the races until closer to the end of summer, the Greco-Roman Wrestling Tournament would be going on then, and they didn't want to have the track and field events overlap. Thus, things were moved indoors and adjustments were made.
"Well, it's been hotter this year," Abby commented, "and rather that throw the entire IAC schedule off they moved a few things inside... which naturally has its own benefits."
"Air conditioning!" Penny cheered from behind them.
Abby glanced back to the Golden Retriever Animalian who gave a polite smile and wagged her tail. Most of those who'd come out for this year's IAC Triathlon were different from the year before with Durga and Abby being the prime returning racers, though some of this might be the fact that the pair had gained the most attention during the first IAC. Abby had to admit that some of the Animalia Ambassadoria schedules and reduced the time she'd had to train for this year's event, not to mention some of the added work she'd done around the farm, but she knew she was still in good shape and that her ability to use the bicycle that had been developed for Animalians was good, so long as her tail didn't end up in the gears and the running portion of the race was well within her strengths. Which would then counter Durga's abilities in the swimming part of the race and they balance they had biking. Penny, while certainly healthy and full of pep, didn't strike Abby as the serious, if still friendly, competitor that Durga was.
"That is part of it," Abby gave a chuckle as the group made their way to the starting area.
The walk was a bit quiet, though Durga soon padded up beside Abby as they walked along.
"You know... I was actually a bit surprised you came back for this year's race," Durga commented.
"You're that confident are you?" Abby raised an eyebrow.
"I would like to think that I'm in better shape than last time," Durga smiled, "but no... that wasn't my concern. Shiva and I we do follow your team on your show... Animalia Ambassadoria. And going back into the last school year... you and your friends have had a much busier job with that."
"Well... the show changed," Abby admitted, "when we started it was mostly just an advertisement for Horizon and Animalia. Something that would promote conversions... at least for those looking for a cure for some disease, injury, or just because they were interested in Animals. That sort of thing. But after things with Heather's attack, the present administration's attempts to legislate Animalia or Horizon out of business, and then the discover that "patient zero" was alive in the city sewers and had kidnapped Jeremy Green... there was a lot that we needed to do. That meant more discussion and more showings on how Animalians and Humans got along in Lyre and Animalia and that neither side was just mooching off the other. That sort of thing."
"Yes... but it's also kept you busier than before," Durga pointed out.
"True..." Abby answered, "but it hasn't consumed everything yet, and that has allowed time to race. And so long as it's a good race, it won't matter who wins."
"On that, I agree," Durga nodded, "though, hopefully in the race for public opinion and public support... you and your friends win that race."
Abby nodded at that. Animalia Ambassadoria had certainly grown from what it had been in the beginning and had now been trying to show how Animalia could coexist and work with Humanity in a way that was as more than just a "tourist attraction," the way they were often labeled. On the surface it was a daunting challenge, and as they all reached their bikes and moved them to their starting positions, Abby also knew that those wouldn't get any easier any time soon. Come the coming school year, Animalia Ambassadoria would see some of its schedule change, as some of its Human members from the past year had been Seniors when they joined. They might be able to stay, but it would mean they'd need to cover things from an outsider's perspective and potentially even open direct interviews and questions, which could work as a feature for the coming school year, though beyond that they would need to wait for their main group meeting to get that all figured out.
But for the moment there was the present IAC to focus on, and Abby wasn't going to just quit. As the airhorn sounded, she was off, peddling hard hoping to see if she could repeat as champion while racing around the long oval track that had been drawn around the arena floor.