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First Women to compete in Sheila Isaacs, the 67- year-old triathlete from Shoreham, completed her quest to become the first person to finish a triathlon in every state. In October 2004, Isaacs finished the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii. Isaacs covered the 2.4- mile swim, 112- mile bike and 26.2-mile run in 16 hours, 54 minutes, 55 seconds - just five minutes and five seconds shy of the 17-hour cutoff time. Granted, a swim-bike-run endurance race is not something suited for pasting in an album or pressing between plates of glass. But as with every other type of collection, there's a prized piece that everyone covets. Isaacs, a 67-year-old grandmother from Shoreham, is about to get hers; the triathlon equivalent of the mint condition copy of Superman comic No. 1 or the rare stamp with the upside-down airplane. On Saturday, she will compete in the Ironman World Triathlon Championship in Kailua-Kona , Hawaii . If she can complete the grueling distance - a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon - she will have done something no one else has ever done: Finish a triathlon in each of the 50 states. She's saved the toughest for last: Started in 1978, the Hawaii Ironman, or "Kona," as the athletes refer to it, is the big kahuna of triathlons. To get there, about 50,000 athletes compete in 25 qualifying races held worldwide. In these qualifiers, only about 1,500 finish high enough in their respective five-year age groups to earn a place in Hawaii (another 200 get in through a lottery). Many qualifiers are pros; most are younger than Isaacs. "I could have found other races in Hawaii ," says Isaacs, who qualified last year by winning the 65-69 female age group at the UK Half Ironman in Sherborne , England . "But I decided I wanted to do the big one." Her entire family will be there to see it: A native of Johannesburg , South Africa , Isaacs and husband, Hugh - a metallurgist who works at Brookhaven National Laboratory - immigrated to the United States in 1965. A mathematician by training, she was a "juggler" long before it became the norm, holding down a job while raising a family. The Isaacses have two grown children, Darryl of Rocky Point and Nicole Ossinoff, who lives in Westchester County with her husband and two daughters. A dare Isaacs has been racing toward this day since 1991, when she entered a triathlon in Montauk "on a dare" from one of her co- workers at LILCO, where she had worked for 20 years as a systems analyst. Isaacs went to the Montauk race with virtually no previous athletic experience and lots of trepidation. She earned first place in her age group. "I got a medal and T-shirt," she said. "I had never won anything before." She was hooked on her new sport. "She just got so involved in it so quickly," recalls her husband. "It became a new life for her." With him accompanying her (and, later, competing himself on occasion), Isaacs completed triathlons throughout the mid- Atlantic states and New England in the years after her first race. The tris and states began to add up. "Suddenly," she said, the number "was up there, and then I started to look for them." That was 1993, the year, she says, that she purposefully began collecting triathlons in each state. It has taken her more than a decade to do it, in part because triathlons, which require an available body of water for the swim segment, are a lot less common than road races. Indeed, the fact that she's now on the verge of completing her 50th state is as much a triumph of the calendar and the calculator as it is of the cardiovascular system. Finding the races, organizing the travel itineraries, tracking the frequent-flyer mileage - it was all part of the experience. "It has been a wonderful adventure," she says. "I have met so many great people and seen some of the loveliest places in this country." Her favorite race: The Moose Nugget triathlon in Anchorage , Alaska , which she did in 2002. "The swim start was delayed because of a bald eagle fishing in the lake," she said. "And yes, there was a moose on the trail, as well." Weirdest race: The triathlon she did in Los Alamos , N.M. "The swim was in a pool," she says. West Virginia had no triathlon. But a triathlete in the state who heard about Sheila's 50- state quest offered to organize one for her. There were nine participants. "He persuaded some friends who were getting their bikes checked up at the local bike shop to join us," Isaacs recalls with a chuckle. "It was awesome." As is her achievement. While USA Triathlon, the governing body of the sport, keeps no official records on such things, it is widely accepted in the tri community that she is going to be the first to collect all 50 states. "It's very impressive," says USA Triathlon spokeswoman B.J. Hoeptner Evans. One more, at least Of course, she still has one formidable obstacle: The Ironman is longer than any race Isaacs has ever completed. In addition, competitors must complete the hot, windy Kona course within 17 hours. To make sure she can go the distance in the allotted time, Isaacs has been training about 25 hours a week. Those who know her believe she will be ready. "She's so quiet and unassuming, but boy, does she carry a big stick," says Jose L. Lopez of Mineola , a local triathlon coach and race organizer who has coached Isaacs in the past. "To do 50 states in 15 years ... and to do it in Kona ... that's a big deal." Finishing the Ironman in Hawaii will mean closing the b ook on her 50-state quest. But like any serious hobbyist, the triathlon collector is planning to start another one very soon. "I'm going on," Isaacs says. "There's lots of countries out there, you know." To congratulate Sheila, you can email her at: hughshe@optonline.net |
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