Two San Mateo County women excel in San Francisco triathlon

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jun 17, 2009 | by Jessica Bernstein-Wax

Two San Mateo County women who placed in the top 10 of the grueling Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon last weekend will compete in a San Jose race on Sunday.

Kelly Couch, a 31-year-old San Mateo resident, won fourth place in Escape from Alcatraz on Sunday after just three years racing as a professional. Gina Kehr, a 39-year-old Redwood City mother of two, placed eighth in the race.

"It was a really good day -- the weather was beautiful," said Couch, who taught history at Woodside Priory School before going pro in 2006.

Launched in 1980, the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon attracts about 2,000 amateur and professional athletes each year to its course, which includes a frigid, 1.5-mile swim from near Alcatraz Island to the Marina Green beach; an 18-mile bike ride through the Presidio and Golden Gate Park; and an 8-mile run to the Golden Gate Bridge and Baker Beach.

Kehr, who is married to a Redwood City firefighter and has a 3- year-old daughter and 16-month-old son, said this year's race went better than the 2007 Escape from Alcatraz, when thick fog made it almost impossible to see the swim course. Kehr also felt inexplicably tired during the race that year and discovered she was pregnant the next day.

She swam until the end of her pregnancy and was back training four months after her son's birth in January 2008.

"It was a personal thing I wanted to do," Kehr said. "It's very empowering to be older and have the life that I have and still keep up with these girls."

Both women will participate in the 2009 San Jose Pro Challenge this Sunday at Almaden Lake Park. For more information on the event, visit www.usaproductions.org/events/ pro-challenge.

Jessica Bernstein-Wax can be reached at jbernstein@dailynewsgroup.com.