La Jolla rates an IronKid

Jacob Duryee-Feeney, who lives in La Jolla and will be a third-grader at Doyel Elementary School, learned last week that he has qualified for the 2009 IronKids National Championship on Oct. 4 in Tucson, Ariz.

He learned in an e-mail that he is representing his age group “as one of the fastest IronKids in the country.”

He qualified in a May 2 race near SeaWorld, competing in the Junior division for 6- to 8-year-olds. The course included a 50-yard swim, a two-mile bike ride and a 500-yard run.

Martin Feeney, Jacob’s father, wrote in an e-mail that his son expressed an interest in triathlons last year.

“He has been running various kids runs, which are usually between 1 kilometer (6/10 mile) and 1 mile in length, since he was 5 years old,” he wrote. The father and son have also ridden bikes together for several years, Martin Feeney added, noting that he and his wife, Kathy, “have competed in triathlons for quite some time so there is a family history.”

The IronKids series targets children ages 6 to 15 years old.