Local triathletes tackle land, water and stereotypes in quest for victory

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, June 22, 1999 | 9:43 a.m.

Gambling, smoky strip clubs, high cancer rates, that infernal heat -- Las Vegas has one harsh reputation.

But locals know there's more to this town.

And few more so than a group of triathletes who have grown exasperated by the "Sin City" ribbing they get from people every time they go out of state for competitions.

Few can believe that athletes of their caliber would choose to live -- let alone try to train -- in a desert of debauchery where summers top 117 degrees and all-you-can-eat buffets are but a greasy $2.99 away.

They can, they do -- and they're determined to shake off the city's unsavory stigma by letting their bodies do the talking.

In a sport that challenges an individual to swim, bike and run to the finish line, six Las Vegas triathletes have opted to compete together as a team.

They're calling themselves "Team Viva" -- the name's origin is a story in itself -- and are among the best triathletes around.

By banding together, they hope their talents will gain Las Vegas recognition for the many elite athletes who live here. They're also striving to promote wellness in the community and communicate the merits of a rapidly growing sport that is a lifestyle in itself.

"I think we are going to blow some minds when we go to races this year," Patrick Almeido, Team Viva's captain and a triathlete the past 11 years, said.

His team includes:

* Danny Murphy, 33, one of the fastest triathletes in the southwest; named Triathlon Today's All American in 1987-89, and Triathlete of the Year by Las Vegas Tri-Sport (the local triathlon) in 1992-1994.

* Giampaolo Sesto, 33, a consistent top 10 finisher. Completed in "Ironman" competitions in New Zealand, Canada and Germany, and took first in 1994 and 1995 in the triathlon in Big Bear, Calif.

* Mike Almeido, 35, has competed in triathlons for seven years.

* Sassan Golafshan, 28, is a Hawaii "Ironman" hopeful.

* Jacki Arcana, 38, is a runner and road race fanatic new to the sport.

Local triathletes who train with the team include Garrin McNally, 34, Andra Jaunzeme, 46, a standout Russian triathlete, and Gail Ledbetter, whose local Masters Women's track team shattered the American 800-meter relay record by 44 seconds on June 12.

"We love living in Las Vegas, but other people's perception of this town is that you can't live here and do anything besides drink, smoke and gamble," said Almeido, a county recreation programs supervisor. "It's a wrong perception. The team's concept is to promote that people in Vegas do live a healthy lifestyle and can train beyond the elements."

The team's name stems from the jokes Almeido and his brothers would hear years ago at races about "Viva," as in "Viva Las Vegas" -- land of all things neon and deprave.

Admittedly, it feeds into the mockery. But there is another meaning -- that of the Italian viva, or "long live."

If anyone, Team Viva stands the best chance at a living long.

They insist genetics didn't given them their physiques. Instead, they say it's choice.

Almeido struggled with severe asthma, pneumonia and allergies as a child. Animals, pollens, grass -- he was allergic to 61 of the 64 allergens he was tested for.

"I couldn't even run around the block," he remembers.

He pitched for his high school baseball team, his only worry that of throwing the ball hard enough. By his freshman year in college at California State University, Northridge, the boy kids called "Hubba Bubba" was 5-foot-11, and weighed 240 pounds.

"There were a lot of nights spent at home, a lot of eating, using food as a way to relieve the depression," Almeido said. "Considering all my friends were athletic and thin, the name calling, what bothered me more than anything was not being able to do what typical college kid could do."

Finally, he'd had enough.

He started lifting weights and got into aerobics. He needed his asthma medication at first. The first two weeks, he lost 25 pounds. In three months, he'd lost 60.

A friend introduced him to biking and he started doing some criteriums -- road races where riders do laps through city streets.

Another friend showed him triathlons. He did his first one in Big Bear, in 1988 and has been racing ever since.

"You're not going to fake this sport," Almeido said. "It requires time, discipline and a large commitment on yourself."

The payoff is there: Almeido hasn't needed an inhaler for four years. Rarely sick, at worst he'll get an ear infection from the pool. His resting heart rate is measured an almost inconceivable 41 beats per minute.

At 32, his former athletic buddies are the sick ones today -- they gave up sports and developed asthma, allegries, illness and gained weight.

"You go to a marathon with 30,000 runners, or a 5K with 600 runners. A lot of people run, jog, swim, bike. Very few put all three together, he said. "That's what keeps me in this sport -- knowing that when I complete a race, whether I finish in the time I wanted or just completed it, it puts you in an elite category. We're a very small part of the population."

Today's triathletes

Viva's team is in the pool by 6 a.m., four days a week. They juggle runs and bike rides around work or babysitters' schedules.

Most are married; two have children. All of them make time to help other triathletes train.

Each logs an average 3,000 meters swimming, 200 miles cycling and 30 miles running a week. They test themselves in Lake Mead's currents and elevations at Red Rock Canyon and Mount Charleston. Their diets are clean, they get to bed early and have no regrets leaving the Las Vegas party scene behind.

Such spirit and drive impresses Tom Ruetten of Diamond Concrete Cutting, a team sponsor along with attorney Allan D. Bray and DeSoto Sports.

"If you've ever done a triathlon, you know the feeling -- it's exhilarating," Ruetten said. He did his first race in Solana Beach, Calif., in 1996.

At 6-foot-7 and weighing 300 pounds, Ruetten's one of the biggest guys in the sport. But then again, no triathlete is typical.

Young, old, skinny, heavy -- every type competes.

The Hawaii "Ironman" -- the "triple crown," if you will, in triathlon held every October -- remains the best-known endurance test with its 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride through baking lava fields and a 26.2-mile run.

But there are many shorter distances, the least of which is called a "sprint" -- about a half-mile swim, 12-miles cycle and 3-mile run. So, more people with less training can compete.

A triathlete's often older -- a long-time runner bored with pounding the pavement, cyclists wanting something new, and people settled in careers and willing to make the time commitment to train.

USA Triathlon, the sport's governing body which sanctions races and promotes U.S. competition, has seen its membership rise to 18,000 athletes -- a 12 percent increase over last year -- competing annually in five or more triathlons.

USA Triathlon's Mike McCarley said about 80,000 Americans each year sign up for at least one event. They sanctioned 574 triathlons in 1998 and anticipate 700 by year's end.

There's even a series for children ages 7-14 called "Iron Kids" currently running in Denver, Sacramento, Calif., Wichita, Kan., San Antonio, Texas, Memphis, Tenn., and Atlanta, McClary said.

The sport's biggest boost, though, is expected in 2000 when triathlon makes its Olympic debut in Sydney, Australia.

Triathlete magazine -- the sport's largest publication -- is also booming: Its readership increased from 24,400 to 35,000 in the last year.

The next 'Ironman'?

Looking back, Sassan Golafshan calls his first triathlon "a blessing."

He decided to try one at age 27, after running the San Francisco marathon in 1998.

A college swimmer, he'd placed fourth in 1989 in California in the 50-meter freestyle. The U.S. Aquatics Association awarded him All-American status in 1992 and 1993.

How hard could it really be, he figured, to jump on a bike and ride?

Come race day, he was the fourth swimmer of 700 competitors out of the water. Jumping on his beat-up, old bike, he was psyched for a victory he would never taste.

Hundreds passed him, including a 62-year-old man, a 54-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl. He knew -- in triathlons, racers' ages are inked on the back of their calves.

He finished far back, crossing the line after about 400 other finishers.

"I remember afterward, I packed up all my stuff and I could see everybody celebrating. They were happy. It didn't matter whether they finished. And it wasn't so much that I wanted to finish in the top of my age group. It was more that I got a dose of reality and I didn't like it."

He promised himself he'd master the bike, the most technical element of the sport. The practice paid off: The following weekend at the harrowing "Escape to Alcatraz" event, he finished his second event in the top 20 percent.

That was 10 months ago -- the same time the San Francisco-based software distributor company he works for moved him here to start a Las Vegas branch.

Today, training consumes his life. His body fat has dropped from 17 to 4 percent.

His goal is to qualify this year for a slot in Hawaii's "Ironman." His age group -- 25 to 29 -- remains one of the toughest, yet he feels he stands a solid chance.

He placed fourth overall in the hilly Catalina Island, Calif., triathlon, sixth in Hermosa Beach, Calif., and eighth overall in the San Diego, Calif., "Half Ironman" competition.

"This sport has taught me that I am limitless, that I could break my record every time," Golafshan said. "It's about discovering yourself. It would be easy to say I learned that because of triathlons. The truth is, it's just a matter of pushing yourself in whatever you do.

"We could compete individually, just for ourselves, and get our respective prizes, but we want Team Viva to be a positive role model for the community."

For her children

Jackie Arcana will no doubt be a role model for moms.

Her goal three years ago was to lose the 30 pounds she'd put on while pregnant with her second son, Dominic -- a lot of weight to hide when you're 5-foot-2.

So she started working out at the gym, a much needed social outlet after having moved from New Jersey to Las Vegas shortly before the baby was born.

She met a long-time runner who got her hooked on running, although not the way most people start. The woman took her out the first day for a three-mile run. The next day it was a six-mile run. Next, Arcana was doing the loop at Red Rock Canyon -- never knowing that 14.5 miles of hills and elevation was something few runners have the guts to try.

She was going farther, faster, every week. Her dream of running a marathon suddenly seemed within reach.

Fate, it seems, diverted her to triathlons.

Inflamed nerves in the balls of her feet late last year left her unable to get out of bed. Doctors said surgery. She said no.

Therapists said swimming. They may as well have said deep-sea diving -- Arcana nearly drowned as a child and failed swim class. No way was she getting in a pool.

She pedaled out the miles instead on a stationary bike. Until the day she noticed her 7-year-old was afraid to try to swim. "He could feel my fear," Arcana said. "I had to face my fear and move on. It wasn't physical; it was mental."

She's a swimmer now, as is her son, but wound up having surgery to cut the damaged nerves from her feet. She placed fourth two weeks ago in Oceanside, Calif., in her first triathlon.

"My 7-year-old will say to me, 'Well, did you do your best, Mommy? That's all that matters,' " Arcana said. "It's worth it just to teach my kids things I would have liked to have known when I was young."

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