From the CEO
TRIATHLON’S POWER WOMEN
By Rob Urbach
Each year women make up an increasing percentage of our athletes, race directors, coaches, officials and volunteers. More and more bike and apparel manufacturers are making female-specific products.
Using these exciting developments as a springboard, our USA Triathlon Women’s Committee is actively engaged on women’s issues while providing programming, grants and mentorships. Recently the “Share Your Strength” campaign was developed under Committee Chair Tara Comer. Designed to encourage women to run for posts during the recent USA Triathlon National and Regional Elections, the campaign was disseminated via the Women’s Committee social media platform, including Facebook and Twitter.
Additionally, the Committee will publish a comprehensive “Women’s Guide to Triathlon” in conjunction with our National Office staff and coaching community.
USA Triathlon and its Women’s Committee recognize the challenges of balancing motherhood and careers. Adding triathlon to the mix is even more difficult but offers inspiration for other women. For this column, I wanted to highlight two such role models, each remarkable in her own right:
ELLEN HART, DENVER, COLO.
One of five siblings to attend Harvard University, Ellen is an over-achiever who hails from a family of over-achievers. She not only succeeded in the classroom but also was a three-sport star for the Crimson women’s basketball, soccer and track teams. After graduation, Ellen became a record-setting distance runner and competed in the 1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials. She also managed to earn a law degree, land a job at a prestigious law firm, and was a mother of three while her then-husband served as the Denver mayor.
But, like too many women, Ellen suffered from bulimia. Her struggles were chronicled in a 1996 television movie, “Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story.” While it took more effort than any race she has ever entered, Ellen overcame this debilitating and difficult-to-treat affliction, and is now among the world’s best in her age group at all triathlon distances.
Like many of you, she loves to race and completed a remarkable 10-day stretch at the end of this season — first place at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, Nev., and three ITU Age-Group World Championship races in London — second in the aquathlon, second in the Olympic-distance and second in the sprint. She completed this feat with a champion’s spirit and warm energy.
I later relished seeing her race to a second-place finish in the 55-59 division at the Ironman World Championships in Kona. (I began writing this column before sunrise on race day at a famous local Kona coffee shop, Lava Java. Is there any other place in world where you can find Kale popsicles?) Now, through public speaking and her foundation, Ellen works to prevent eating disorders among young women and assist those who struggle with these disorders.
ANN DAVIDSON, PORTLAND, ORE.
Ann was also a competitive runner and starred at Stanford University. Two years ago she was named USA Triathlon’s Female Duathlete of the Year and is the current three-time ITU world age group duathlon champion, but she is also an accomplished triathlete. During the Olympic-distance race at the ITU World Championships, Ann found herself trailing the leader in the 50-54 age group, who happened to be from Great Britain and therefore was racing in front of a boisterous home crowd. As the two hit the blue carpet with 200 meters to go and Ann trailing by 10 meters, both athletes started to kick. While Ann’s Team USA supporters were outnumbered, she heard their cheers, found another gear and won the gold medal. Goose bumps. Outside of triathlon, Ann has two teenage sons and uses her Ph.D. in education for therapeutic work with children and research for at-risk youth and those with mental health issues.
Ellen and Ann are both very gifted former competitive runners but make up a small percentage of our membership. I suspect many of you can relate more closely to Cortney Martin, a professor at Virginia Tech and mother of two, who describes her story as: “have kids, give life to kids, family and work and one day looked at a photo and wonder what the hell happened to me?”
So, what did she do? Well, you can read about Cortney’s transformation on her entertaining blog,
www.cortthesport.com. Cortney’s enthusiasm for our sport is contagious.
These athletes are representative of the hundreds of thousands of amazing women who have embraced the triathlon lifestyle and inspired their families, colleagues and fellow competitors along the way.
22 USA TRIATHLON FALL 2013
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