May 1, 2010 (Colorado Springs, CO) – Almost a year to the day he underwent knee surgery, and 15 months after returning from deployment to Iraq, Darin Shearer showed he's in fine form as he pursues his ultimate goal: competing in the Olympics.  The Army captain won the overall title in the second annual Falcon Groundspeed Triathlon at the Air Force Academy.  He covered the 800-yard swim, 15.26-mile bike ride and 5K run in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 14.7 seconds.

"It was a challenging course (with all the altitude changes), but I was using it as a training race," said Shearer, a member of the Army's World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) who expects to compete next month in the Armed Forces Championship in California.

Boulder's Eric Kenney took second in 1:12:41.9, while Colorado Spring’s Yaniv Atzmon was third in 1:17.28.4.

On the women's side, Fort Carson teacher Pam Welch took first in the event with a time of 1:25:06, three and a half minutes ahead of Leadville’s Amy Peters (1:28:02) and about six minutes ahead of Colorado Springs’ Carolyn Atwood (1:31:50). 

Women’s Winner Two for Two at Academy Races

It was Welch’s second win in as many Air Force events, following a victory in the Lindsay Brown Memorial Triathlon last fall.  Both events are fund-raisers, with the fall competition raising money to help cadets dealing with bereavement costs, and the Falcon Groundspeed Triathlon in support of the Cadets' triathlon team.

Welch said the bicycle portion was key for her.

"I ride this course every Sunday with a group," she said, noting as many as 50 riders take off at 10 a.m. each Sunday from a downtown Colorado Springs park.  "I like the hilly course on the bike and the run."

Men’s Winner Aims for Olympics

For men’s winner, Shearer, this win was just a small step toward the ultimate goal.

"I've had this goal my whole life of making it to the Olympics. I've come close," he said, missing out by six seconds six years ago. "This is my last chance."

In 2004, competing in steeplechase, he finished fourth in the Olympic Trials—with only the top three qualifying for the Games.  Four years earlier, he finished fourth at the national championships only to have a bad race at the wrong time blow any chance at competing in Athens.

With one degree in arts/architecture from Harvard already in hand, Shearer went back to school to study engineering.  While at the University of Florida in 2006, he joined the Army. From December 2007 until February 2009, he was deployed in Mosul, working on a forward operating base to design and build checkpoints and combat outposts.

"It taught me to appreciate family and what hard work really is," Shearer said of 90-to 95-hour work weeks with a day off only about every 3-4 months.

Upon his return he eventually was selected for the WCAP program, even though he's 36.

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