Boulder City athlete hoping to beat last year’s time in triathlon

File photo

Boulder City’s Vicki Brown, right, chats with Boulder City Pool and Racquetball Complex aquatic coordinator Sheri O’Berto. Brown is participating in the Pumpkinman Triathlon on Oct. 18.

By Brent Hinckley

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 | midnight

A year ago, Boulder City resident Vicki Brown was finishing training for her first triathlon — the 2007 Pumpkinman.

As this year’s Pumpkinman approaches on Oct. 18, she’s more experienced and eager to see how she does.

“This is what I’ve been training for since last year,” Brown said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how I do and how much I’ve improved.”

This is the fifth year the Pumpkinman has taken place in Lake Mead and Boulder City. About 1,500 triathletes are expected to participate.

The triathlon starts at Boulder Beach for the swimming portion. Competitors will then bike along Lake Shore Drive until reaching their turn-around point and then bike into Boulder City to Bicentennial Park. From there, they will run through Boulder City, returning to the finish line at Bicentennial Park. The first groups start at 7 a.m. The event is broken into three distance classifications.

Brown, 34, last year competed in the short distance — a 0.75K-swim, 12.4-mile bike and 3.1-mile run. She finished 102nd in 1 hour, 59:07 minutes and ninth overall in her age group.

“It was such a feeling of accomplishment when I finished,” she said. “It wasn’t like anything I had ever done before.”

She undertook the race to support a friend, Lesley Harvey, who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Some friends were putting together a team to support her and asked me to join them,” Brown said. “As great as it was to finish the race, it was nothing compared to showing our support for Lesley.”

After finishing one triathlon, Brown knew she wanted more and began to train with Frank Lowry’s Multisport team in Henderson.

“She’s put in a lot of work the last year and has really improved as an athlete. I can’t wait to see how she does,” Lowry said.

She competed in two triathlons to prepare for this year’s Pumpkinman. Her first triathlon of 2008 was the Lake Havasu Triathlon on March 22.

She competed in the sprint distance (500-meter swim, 12.4-mile bike and 3.1-mile run) and finished in 1:32.00, which was first in her age group and 70th overall out of nearly 200 competitors.

Her next event came four months later in Flagstaff, Ariz., where she competed in the Mountain Man Triathlon on July 20.

Brown said she wanted to push herself, so she competed in the Olympic distance, which consisted of a 0.93-mile swim, 24.9-mile bike and 6.2-mile run. She finished 163rd of 264 competitors in 3:02.01.

“It was tough to move up to the longer distance, and we were up in the mountains, but it showed I was ready for the challenge,” Brown said.

Brent Hinckley can be reached at 990-7822 or brent.hinckley@hbcpub.com.