Next week we will be a special week for TRAVLETE. Why? Because it’s Women’s Week!
All next week we will be interviewing some of the most inspiring women in endurance racing. But before then, we thought we’d take a step back and share with you the women who personally inspire our writers to lace ‘em up and race.
Julie Lamb: Chris Evert
After learning tennis from her dad and toughening up through sibling rivalry on the court, Chris Evert won 18 Grand Slams, including a record 7 times at the French Open and 6 at the U.S. Open. She was the Number 1 singles player in the world for 5 years and her win–loss record in singles matches of 1,309–146 (89.96%) is the best of any professional tennis player, man OR woman, in the Open Era.
But what I remember is that she did it with style, grace, dignity and unrelenting determination. She hated giving up a single point, and you could see it in her eyes. She fired up the crowds with her smile AND the power of her two-handed backhand — originally a “cheat” because she was small in stature that ended up becoming her signature move — and changed the way tennis was played forever.
Chrissie embodied the notion that where there’s a will, there’s a way. She’s the first female athlete I can remember watching on TV, and wanting to be just like her. Even if I only succeeded in following in her footsteps with the feathered hair.
Mary Arnold: Joan Benoit Samuelson
Joan Benoit Samuelson. She took off at the Olympics in 84 and she has not stopped since. No one has ever come close to her in terms of Qualifying for the Olympic trials, winning marathons and giving back to the running community. Her Beach 2 Beacon race is amazing!
My favorite story about her though, is that she turned to Lance at the New York City Marathon and told him to suck it up and stay with her if he wanted to go sub 3.
He was 35 at the time.
She was 50. Boo ya.
Andrea Basche: Billie Jean King
Tennis player extraordinaire, female activist, author
Billie Jean King is arguably the icon for women’s equality in sports. It’s hard not to have profound admiration for a woman who’s most famed moment came in the “Battle of the Sexes.” Billie Jean King in her heyday not only excelled in a sport but changed the world and role of women as a result. From 1961-1980, she won 12 grand slam singles titles and 39 total grand slam titles – singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Yes, you read that right. 39 total grand slam titles. Not to mention, she’s won a Presidential Medal of Freedom, has a National Tennis Center named after her AND was the first women to make six figures in a sport. Her winnings were due in part to her insistence that women receive equal prize money to men, which she says was not radical but “pragmatic.”
It isn’t radical to think that women can excel in their sport. We ladies have Billie Jean King to thank for that.
Tracy Weickel: Christine Kenney
It’s easy to pic a famous female athlete to look up to, but some of the most badass chicks are the amateur, age-group, have to work 70 hour weeks and fit in a training regimen, ladies. One of my favorites is Christine Kenney.
I’ve known Christine as an athlete for years. We played HS lacrosse against each other and then Division 1 college lacrosse as well (her at Penn State and me at Georgetown). After using endurance sports to fill the athletic void left by college sports, Christine has become quite the speed demon.
She’s always been fast, I think she won the local Turkey Trot a few years in a row and competed in over 20 triathlons between 2002 and 2007. She had a horrific bike crash in 2007 (hit by a car), where she suffered stress factures in both hips and couldn’t use her left arm or hand for six weeks. But, when she came back, she came back with a vengeance. She won the 2009 Long Island Half Marathon flat out and then went on place in the top 10 in her age group in almost every single race since. She qualified for Kona with a 10:25:18 finish at Ironman Cozumel in 2009, but crashed her bike again while training during the summer of 2010. She thought Kona was out, but she was determined. Rumor has it she was spotted training on the Alter-G with her arm still in a sling (badass!). She raced Kona in 2010 and finished in a blazing 10:47:07. It’s been all good since then… She won top amateur female in 9:57:00 at her return to Ironman Cozumel in November, 2011 and in January won the Carlsbad Marathon in SoCal in 2:53:07. She’s not famous, but every time I see her race or talk to her she motivates me to want to be a better athlete and train harder and realize my race potential (even though it will never be as speedy as hers). Plus she’s always down to grab a few post-race beers, which is really what makes her tops in my book!
Lauren Goodman: My Mom!
My fave female athlete is my mom, because she’s in her 60s and can do this.
And if you saw my pathetic pushups, you’d know that it has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with hard work and badassery.
Susan Patrignelli: Mirinda Carfrae & Tara Rasch
PRO: Mirinda Carfrae. I would take her talent over all the others, any day of the week. And twice in Kona?! And she’s a beast on the run. ‘Nuff said.
LOCAL: Tara Rasch (my former coach, pictured). Aside from her immense talent, she has the best “can-do” and “go get ‘em” attitude. She gets knocked out of the saddle from time to time, but always uses it as more fuel for the fire. An inspiration for us other age groupers.
Stacey Archambault: My Mom!
I know many women consider their mom to be an inspiration, and like Lauren, I consider myself lucky to be among these women. My mom has always impressed me with her ability to be simultaneously incredibly loving, nurturing and tough as nails. You may never guess it from your first meeting with her, but my mom is not someone to be messed with. From the age of 13 when her own mother passed away, she learned quickly how to fend for herself. She and my dad met as young Marines. After leaving the service to raise my brother and I, first as a military wife, then as a single mother of teenagers, my mom has never ceased to roll with whatever challenges life has thrown her.
Two years ago my mom watched me run my first half marathon, and I received the ultimate privilege of returning the favor and inspiring my mom. She began running and working out herself, and at the age of 53, my mom starts her morning with 100 push-ups.
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