The Cool Kidz Pole Pedal Paddle team is, from top, clockwise: Grace Eckhart, 12, Emma Anderson, 11, Thomas Williams, 13, Will Anderson, 13, Emma Brooks, 12, and Kiana Gottschalk, 13. Joe Kline / The Bulletin

This is not team Cool Kidz’s first multisport rodeo.

Grizzled veterans of the U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle — Saturday’s race will be the group’s seventh consecutive PPP together — the Cool Kidz are out for victory again after winning their co-ed age division last year in the ever-popular Mount Bachelor-to-Bend ski, bike, run, paddle race.

Cool Kidz’s team members are tested, seasoned PPPers — and they are all still in middle school.

Sixth-grader Emma Anderson joins longtime Cool Kidz teammates Kiana Gottschalk, Grace Eckhart, Thomas Willilams, Will Anderson and Emma Brooks — all seventh graders — this year as the group tackles its second full PPP.

The Cool Kidz raced in the mini PPP for five years, from first to fifth grade, before competing in their first full PPP this past spring.

“It’s a lot longer, but that makes it more fun,” says Kiana, a Pilot Butte Middle School Giant, who will do the nordic leg of the race Saturday. “The kid (competition) went by so quick.”

“The paddle is a lot harder,” adds Grace, one of five Cascade Middle School Mountaineers on the team, who is set to do the downhill ski this year but paddled with Kiana in 2013. “In the kids’ race you’re going downstream the whole time and (the whole team) is paddling. Last year was harder. We even got stuck.”

Bigger, stronger and faster, team Cool Kidz expects to improve on their 2013 time, even though they are not exactly sure what that was. (It was 2 hours, 52 minutes, 52 seconds.) Team members are competing in events that better fit their skills, the group says, and they have a year of experience under their belt.

“This year we all have (events) we’ve done for a long time,” Grace says. “Emma (Brooks, who is doing the 5-mile run) can run forever, and we’ve all been skiing.”

“We’re more competitive now,” adds Thomas, the team’s cyclist.

Members of team Cool Kidz have various athletic backgrounds. Most run track or cross-country and several others participate in basketball, soccer and even lacrosse. The team, which won the 2012 mini PPP, could have defended its title last year, but opted instead to compete with the adults.

“It was a little scary them doing the whole adult race by themselves,” admits Michele Gottschalk, Kiana’s mother.

“You lose sight of them,” explains Kevin Brooks, Emma Brooks’ father, about one of the big differences between the mini PPP and the full-length PPP. “You can basically see them the whole time in the kids’ race. But here (in the adult PPP) they’re off and gone. You’re just hoping they show up at the next check point.”

The Cool Kidz, who will be outfitted in their usual, homemade tie-dyed shirts, smile off their parents’ concerns. They have bigger things to worry about.

“When we first started doing this, we just wanted to finish,” says Will, who will handle the team’s paddling duties Saturday. “Now we want to win.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305; beastes@bendbulletin.com.