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LVTC Happenings!
A monthly report of events and resources for our passionate, growing local multisport community.
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We Never Do It Alone
This month’s theme is simple, but powerful: Triathlon is an individual sport, but we never do it alone. Each of us may toe the start line on our own, but behind every one of us is a network of support that makes the triathlon journey possible.
These many roles and acts of generosity are what make our Las Vegas Triathlon Club more than just a place to connect for information, training, and/or racing. The club is a foundation for a community ... one that celebrates every effort, lifts each other through the tough miles, and makes the victories all the sweeter.
In the Coach’s Corner, Hilary Mauch highlights the unsung heroes of our sport - the spouses, kids, sherpas, volunteers, and cheer squads who make it possible for us to train and race. A powerful reminder that while our names are on the bibs, every finish line belongs to a team.
Our New Triathlete feature by Bob Gamble builds on this idea, showing how critical a support network is for both new and experienced athletes. From family to training partners to medical teams, his message is clear: we’re stronger when we acknowledge and appreciate those around us.
This month’s Stronger Together Spotlight shines on Quyen Luu, who embodies the spirit of community through her resilience and generosity. Her story is proof that the endurance community is about so much more than racing - it’s about lifting one another through the highs and lows of life.
And of course, we continue to share insights from our Vegas Experts through Dr. Mike Russell’s Physical Therapy expertise.
Together, these voices remind us that triathlon is never just an individual pursuit. It is built on the encouragement, sacrifice, and generosity of many. That’s what makes our Las Vegas Triathlon Club so special... we race as individuals, but we thrive as a family.
#strongertogether #fearless #lvtrifamily #enjoythejourney #thrive #thatsthevegasway
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There is Life After Triathlon: A Tribute to Shawna Glasser and Her Final Newsletter Piece!
As we head into this month’s newsletter, I want to pause and recognize someone very special to our Las Vegas Triathlon Club ... Shawna Glasser. Country Roads will be her last newsletter piece, and it is hard to put into words the impact she has had on our community. Over the past couple of decades, Shawna has worn just about every hat in the club - President, Past-President, Treasurer, Membership, Sponsorship, Training, and Social - and she has done it all with energy, passion, and heart. On a personal note, I am so appreciative that she has always supported my efforts as President of the club and has always been there for me to bounce ideas off of. Shawna is a huge reason why our club is as strong as it is.
She has also achieved quite a bit in our sport, earning Athena National Champion titles at both the Sprint (2014) and Long-Distance (2015) levels. To honor her legacy of service and spirit, we created the Glasser “Ginger” Award, which recognizes members who embody the very best of our mission: participation, sportsmanship, volunteering, and community.
Shawna, thank you for your decade of leadership, your tireless dedication, and for reminding us that while triathlon may be an individual sport, it is the people like you who make sure none of us ever do it alone.
~John Mercer
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Club Hashtags
Use these hashtags in your social media posts to help share the Las Vegas Triathlon Club themes and highlight our endurance community culture:
#strongertogether – This theme reflects the essence of our triathlon community: achieving more through unity, supporting one another, and celebrating the shared journey of multisport life.
#fearless – This represents the beauty of taking on challenges of multisport and enjoying the rewards!
#thatsthevegasway – We made this theme as a way to point out the things that members do (e.g., loaning bikes, helping others, ...) that promote our club culture.
#enjoythejourney – This theme was selected to emphasize the importance of enjoying training and the overall process of preparing for an event/race.
#lvtrifamily – This theme was to emphasize the importance of our endurance community and to recognize that, even though triathlon is an individual sport, we never do this alone!
#thrive – This was our 2023 theme that was selected to emphasize that triathlon should bring value to all aspects of our lives.
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Sponsors
The Las Vegas Triathlon Club is a 501c(3) organization that is 100% operated by volunteers. Our annual operating budget is about $10,000-$12,000. Sponsorships are incredibly helpful for us to meet cover our operating costs and keep membership prices reasonable. You can read more about sponsorships HERE:
A huge thank you to each of our 2025 Sprint Level Sponsors!
- CORE Mental Health Services
- Elevate Sports Performance & Healthcare
- Elevation Physical Therapy
- Respect The Distance Coaching
- UNLV Kinesiology & Nutrition Sciences
- UNLV SPEED Lab
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Las Vegas Triathlon Club Events
The Las Vegas Triathlon Club Events for the 2025 season have concluded! Thank you to everyone who participated and to all of the volunteers who make our events possible. You inspire us all with your hard work and your tri spirit. Your dedication is what makes our LVTC community so strong! The results of our 2025 events are below:
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You can also check the results from each event at our website.
Stay tuned for future events! You can view the calendar of events at this link:
Las Vegas Triathlon Club Calendar
Continue to check our Facebook Group for other happenings in our endurance community.
Here are the results of our 2024 events:
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Las Vegas Triathlon Club Points Series
The purpose of the Las Vegas Triathlon Club’s Tri Event Points Series is to encourage participation and competition in the sport of triathlon and each of its sub-sports. The Points Series awards individuals who demonstrate skill and commitment during Club events.
The Points Series offers awards to Club members who accrue the most points competing in the four Club events (2 sprint triathlons, 1 aquabike, 1 super sprint triathlon) in the following divisions:
• Open male and female
• Masters (male and female athletes aged 55+ on December 31)
• Rookie (individuals participating in triathlon during their first year, male and female)
• Clydesdale/Athena (male 220+ lbs, female 165+ lbs)
Here are the 2025 Points Series results:
Female Overall
1st - Melissa Olivas
2nd - Vanessa Cook
3rd - Beverly Meteyer
Male Overall
1st - Eric Scott
2nd - Tedd Girouard
3rd - Randall Lomax
Masters Division
Female Winner - Beverly Meteyer
Male Winner - Rodney Nesbitt
Rookie Division
Female Winner - Melissa Morgan
Male Winner - Kamil Dusejovsky
Clydesdale/Athena Division
Female Winner - Griselda Lloyd
Male Winner (Tie) - Kyle Holin and Michael Morey
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Socials/Training Events/Education
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Check out and subscribe to our calendar feature (a continuing work-in-progress):
Las Vegas Triathlon Club Calendar
Here are the tentative dates for our 2025 Club events (we are submitting permit requests for these dates):
- 4/26/25: Saturday - Sprint Triathlon
- RESULTS
- 6/15/25: Sunday - Sprint Triathlon
- RESULTS
- 7/12/25: Saturday - Aquabike
- RESULTS
- 8/10/25: Sunday - Super Sprint Tri
- RESULTS
Sprint Triathlon:
Swim 750m; Bike 20km; Run 5km.
Aquabike:
Swim 750m; Bike 20km.
Super Sprint Triathlon:
Swim ~300m, Bike 4 miles, Run 1.5 miles.
Continue to check our Facebook Group for any additional get-togethers that may be happening, and for locals who are training in town or down at Lake Mead. Post your workouts!
Thanks everyone!
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Past President:
Country Roads
I’ve started a new chapter in my life. My husband and I have raised our children and are now looking toward retirement. We recently bought a cute little house in Morgantown, West Virginia, hoping it will be the perfect place for our golden years.
Triathlon has given me so much. It helped me through postpartum depression, connected me with the best friends I still have today, and gave me memories to last a lifetime.
Our lives move in seasons, and triathlon was a beautiful one for me. I believe that season has come to an end. I haven’t done a triathlon in seven years. I still enjoy all the disciplines, but the racing—the leaning in and discovering what my body is capable of—no longer excites me the way it once did.
I wish for you what triathlon gave me: a sense of achievement, sunrises that take your breath away, friendships that feel like family, and the courage to dream so big it scares you.
We still consider Las Vegas our primary home, and we're doing a trial run of this new life—season by season—but we’re loving the “Country Roads.” Take me home, to the place I belong... You’re welcome for getting that song stuck in your head.
Enjoy your “season,” for however long it burns bright in you.
~Shawna Glasser
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The New Triathlete
Your Support Network
As a new Triathlete, you’re busy building a wide assortment of resources: your aerobic base, knowledge of nutrition, training and racing equipment, and even your mental strength and discipline. There is one resource you need to build, however, that is often overlooked but is nonetheless vital and critical: your support network. Don’t underestimate the power and benefit of this. As our club president is fond of saying, Triathlon is an individual sport, but we never do it alone. This network will help you perform at your peak, help you be more than you could ever be alone, and quite possibly be the difference between a personal record and a DNF.
What comprises this network? It contains many vital people – neglect any one of them at your own peril. First is your spouse or significant other. They help keep you organized and on schedule. They cook for you, tolerate your long hours away from your family, help carry your gear, and probably approve your expensive equipment. Whatever you do, don’t underestimate their value and importance. Next are your coaches, including the wonderful people who give freely of their time to help you with your technique and training. They are a wealth of information and will often help you avoid the mistakes that they have made. Also included in this support staff are your training partners – the folks who get you out of bed at 5:00 am and hold you accountable. Next are the people who new and young triathletes might not think about, but I am here to tell you are invaluable and critical to your success: your medical staff. I would have stopped racing long ago if it wasn’t for my Physical Therapist. Not only him, but at my age, I’ve got my Orthopedic Surgeon on speed dial. And my massage therapist. And my Chiropractor. These are all vital to your long-term career.
Now that we’ve identified your support crew, how do you build and nurture it? That part is simple: You appreciate everyone in it. Be grateful for those who help you train and race, and let them know it. And never, ever, take them for granted.
~Bob Gamble
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Prez Corner:
Triathlon is an Individual Sport, But We Never Do It Alone
When people first think of triathlon, they often imagine the athlete standing alone at the starting line... wetsuit zipped, goggles ready, heart racing. And yes, triathlon gives us each our own bib number, our own timing chip, and our own finish time. But the truth is ... we never really do it alone.
Behind every athlete is a team. Training partners who show up at sunrise for those long rides or cold swims. Spouses, kids, and friends who adjust schedules, cheer from the sidelines, and keep us fueled in more ways than one. Volunteers who stand out in the heat to make sure we stay hydrated and safe. Coaches who remind us that progress comes from consistency, not perfection. Physical therapist and Sports Medicine specialists who help us stay healthy and/or return to play! And fellow athletes, who may be our ‘competition’ but somehow also become our greatest encouragers.
Even the smallest gesture can make the biggest difference. A wave on the bike course, a cheer in transition, or a cowbell at mile 12 of the run. These moments lift us up when our legs are heavy and remind us why we love this sport. Even ‘electronic cheering’ – that is, tracking athletes online if you are not at the race in person – helps.
Supporting each other is what makes our Las Vegas Triathlon Club special. Yes, we each chase our own finish lines, but together, we create a community that makes the journey richer, more meaningful, and a lot more fun.
So as you head into your next race or training block, take a moment to thank the people around you... your crew, your family, your training partners, and our amazing volunteers. Because while triathlon may be called an individual sport, every finish line we cross is a shared victory.
See you out there!
#strongertogether #thatsthevegasway #fearless #enjoythejourney #lvtrifamily
~John Mercer
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Coach's Corner:
We Race Alone, But We Never Do It Alone
Triathlon is often called an individual sport - you swim, you bike, you run, you cross the finish line with your name on the results. But here’s the thing: not once have I ever truly done it alone.
Take any Ironman build I’ve gone through. The long weekend training hours? My hubby deserves a medal of his own for the patience it takes to watch me roll out of bed before sunrise, only to come back hours later salty, sweaty, and still talking about my training numbers. That kind of support isn’t glamorous, but it’s essential. Without it, the dream of even getting to the start line would be a lot harder.
Then there are the family and friends who’ve become last-minute sherpas with sprinting across transition areas like they’re competing in their own triathlon, making sure I’ve got the right nutrition, an extra bottle, or just a loud cheer when I need it most. Those moments matter. Seeing a familiar face at any point of the race course is better than any energy gel on the market.
But support crews aren’t just family and friends. They’re the strangers who ring cowbells, hand out cups of water, and yell “You’ve got this!” when you’re questioning if you actually do. They’re the volunteers who stand in the sun, the wind, or the rain so we can chase our finish lines. And they’re the “race family”, those fellow athletes who may be competitors, but still cheer you on as if you were teammates.
Now, as a coach, I see the same story play out with my athletes. It’s rarely just about the athlete’s grit. It’s about the spouse who rearranges schedules, the kids who make homemade “Go Mom/Go Dad” signs, the training partners who drag each other to the pool at 5 a.m., and the coaches who remind them that consistency beats perfection every single time.
Triathlon hands us each our own bib number, but every finish line is a team victory. The medal may go around the athlete’s neck, but in truth, it belongs to the entire crew who got them there.
So this month, let’s celebrate them. Share your stories with the LV Tri Club, give a shoutout to the support crews, the volunteers, and the unexpected cheerleaders who’ve carried you through your toughest miles. Because triathlon may be an individual sport, but together, we make it possible.
~Hilary Mauch
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Have you met these Coaches?
Triathlon race season is here. Do you have a coach? Are you looking for one? Well, the Las Vegas Triathlon Club is going to try to help make some connections.
Earlier this year, we sent out a google form to try to capture our local coaching expertise. We had a number of coaches (all are members of Las Vegas Triathlon Club) respond and we have featured them on this webpage:
Las Vegas Triathlon Club Coaches
We are going to continue to highlight coaches on our web page – if you would like to be part of that, please fill out this form.
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Las Vegas Triathlon Club Member Spotlight
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The Evidence-Based Triathlete
Too much travel for a new episode! More episodes coming soon! In the meantime, you can check out our previous episodes:
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Where in the World Has Our TRI Club Raced?
Check out the map below to see where our athletes have raced!
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Stronger Together Member Spotlight - Quyen Luu
In this new feature in our newsletter, we highlight a member that exemplifies our club theme: Stronger Together. This month, Quyen Luu is our Stronger Together Spotlight!
Can you share a memorable moment when you felt the power of the endurance community and/or your friends supporting you or others?
I’ll never forget my very first triathlon in 2019. I had signed up for the Ironman 70.3 in Hawaii on a whim after seeing a Facebook ad, and though I finished, I barely made the cutoff times. After DNF-ing my first attempt at a full-distance Ironman because I didn’t make the swim cutoff, Coach Dax Timbol stepped in and showed me how to swim properly just six weeks before my next full-distance attempt (I ended up finishing the swim well below the cutoff time). His selflessness and willingness to help me succeed reminded me of how special the endurance community is—people genuinely want to see others become the best versions of themselves.
More recently, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I completed the Los Angeles Marathon after my second round of chemo wearing a shirt that said “Fck Cancer!” So many fellow runners saw the shirt and cheered me on as they passed by, some giving me fist bumps and some sharing their own cancer journeys. The encouragement lifted me up and carried me forward despite my body feeling oh so tired. Those moments of support—whether from a coach, a friend, or a stranger—show the true power of the endurance community.
What advice would you give to someone new to LVTC about getting involved and making the most of the club experience?
Do what brings you joy—whether that’s racing, training, volunteering, or a little bit of everything. For our club, I’ve found my joy in volunteering because it allows me to help and cheer on others just as I’ve been helped and cheered for. Watching new triathletes manage their first-race jitters and seeing seasoned racers continue to push their limits is always inspiring. I’d also encourage new members to take advantage of the group training sessions and events. They’re a great way to not only improve your skills but also to conquer any pre-race anxiety. Most importantly, remember that you’re joining a community of people who love this sport and are always happy to share that love with others.
What does the phrase ‘Stronger Together’ mean to you in the context of triathlon and the LVTC community?
For me, “Stronger Together” means the selflessness and support I’ve witnessed time and again in this sport. It’s athletes lending each other bikes when one breaks down, stopping mid-race to help change a flat, or simply cheering as they pass one another. It’s coaches like Dax who give their time to help someone learn to swim. It’s volunteers who make races possible and friends who show up to train alongside you on the hard days. It’s our support crew who cheer us on from the sidelines. We push, encourage, and celebrate one another—and that’s what makes us stronger.
What are your next big goals in triathlon?
Right now, I’ve had to step back from training and racing because of my cancer journey. But I’m holding onto a big goal: making a comeback and finishing another full-distance Ironman when the time is right. That vision keeps me motivated, and I know this community will be there to cheer me on when the time comes.
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Vegas Experts - Dr. Mike Russell
We have some fantastic local triathlon expertise. In this regular feature, one of our local experts provides some advice for triathletes. Our expert this month is Physical Therapist Dr. Mike Russell.
Mike Russell, PT, DPT, CSCS is a physical therapist and clinic owner in Henderson, NV who helps runners, triathletes, and active adults stay strong, mobile, and injury-free. With over 17 years of experience, he combines science-based rehab with strength training to keep athletes performing at their best.
Knee Pain in Triathletes: A Symptom, Not the Source
For many runners and triathletes, knee pain is one of the most common reasons they stop training. It’s easy to assume the problem is in the knee itself—after all, that’s where the discomfort is. But research shows that in many cases, the knee is simply the “victim,” not the culprit.
A classic MRI study of 23 marathon runners found their rates of meniscus tears were no higher than sedentary people who had never run a marathon. Over 90% of these high-mileage runners had healthy menisci without evidence of structural damage. This challenges the common fear that “miles will ruin your knees.” Instead, most knee pain in endurance athletes is linked to how the surrounding joints are functioning.
Here’s why: Weak hip abductors and glutes allow the femur to collapse inward with each stride, increasing stress on the knee. Likewise, stiffness or instability at the foot and ankle can alter mechanics further up the chain, again leaving the knee to absorb extra load. A third common problem is iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome, which produces pain on the outside of the knee from repeated friction and stress.
The good news? Addressing these “upstream and downstream” issues can often resolve knee pain without invasive treatments like injections or surgery. Strengthening the hips, working on single-leg control, improving foot mobility, and building calf and ankle stability are proven strategies to restore balance and resilience.
So, if you’re an endurance athlete struggling with knee pain, don’t panic—and don’t assume your running days are over. Chances are, your knees are healthier than you think. The key is to train smarter by focusing on the hips and feet, keeping your entire kinetic chain strong for the miles ahead.
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The Las Vegas Triathlon Club Legacy Scholarship
On 12/10/20, five Las Vegas athletes were killed when an impaired driver ran into a group of cyclists. The athletes were Tom Trauger, Erin Ray, Aksoy Ahmet, Michael Murray, and Gerrard Nieva. These five athletes are endearingly referred to as TEAMG (Tom, Erin, Aksoy, Michael, and Gerrard).
Following their deaths, there has been an upswell of community support for the families and survivors directly affected. There has also been a renewed call for action to create a safer environment for our athletes to train here in the Greater Las Vegas Valley.
The purpose of the Las Vegas Triathlon Club Legacy Scholarship is to honor the legacy of TEAMG as well as any local triathletes who have been killed or injured as result of distracted driving. The Legacy Scholarship is designed to encourage involvement in triathlon by new athletes, youth athletes, and/or continuing athletes in special need.
More information about the scholarship can be found at this page.
The list of our Scholarship Awardees can be found at these pages:
2025 Winners - Congratulations Mattie Williams and Joshua Lira!
2024 Winners
2023 Winners
2022 Winners
This scholarship continues thanks to a generous donation by an anonymous donor.
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