Meet Karin Rusick, Michelle Widowski and Christy Bishop of MomsTRI in Goodyear

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karin Rusick, Michelle Widowski and Christy Bishop.

Karin, Michelle and Christy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We are a group of three moms who understand that women, especially mothers, tend to put themselves at the bottom of their list of priorities. Our goal is to motivate women to improve their health, love their bodies, and increase their sense of personal accomplishment. This will be our 5th year and it has been so wonderful to see the love and support that so many have for this triathlon. Watching these women achieve their goals has been such an inspiration to us, their families, friends, and the community.

Has it been a smooth road?
There is a little bit of a learning curve when putting on your first triathlon. So we have learned a lot over the years. But after each race we evaluate our event and what we can improve on. We want to make each year better than the one before so we are always trying to come up with new ideas or anything that would make our event run smoother for our participants.

Tell us more about the organization.
MomsTRI is a non-competitive women’s triathlon designed for all women and is the first event of its kind in the Phoenix West Valley. We want women to feel the accomplishment of doing something great! Whether you’re a veteran or a novice triathlete, this race is for you! Our sprint triathlon is focused on inspiring beginners and non-athletes to join with other women in loving their bodies and feeling unstoppable!

We’re proud to support the New Life Center, our local emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence. A portion of every registration goes to supporting the refuge provided to women & children in violent situations.

We are unique in that we truly want every participant to succeed. So we allow them to use any stroke during the swim, not just freestyle, and they can even use a kickboard if they feel more comfortable with that. We also provide several clinics before race days such as triathlon 101, transition training, swim techniques, and a running clinic. We want our participants to feel comfortable and confident on race day and these clinics help with that extra preparation. We have wonderful sponsors such as Trek Bicycle, and Spooner PT that help us put on the clinics. The support we have from our community is amazing!

MomsTRI is held at the Goodyear YMCA which is a great facility for our 400 meter swim. Women love the flat bike course, consisting of three 4-mile loops and a quick run through Goodyear Park and surrounding neighborhood. Beginner and first time triathletes love the encouraging, non-competitive atmosphere and more advanced athletes enjoy a great course and spirited finish line. This truly is an event for every woman!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Even though there may have been a slight decline in triathlon participation after huge growth in the 2000s, we feel the industry is making more efforts to attract more athletes. Triathlons can be intimidating for first timers and cost a lot of money for entry fees as well as equipment. We wanted to eliminate barriers by offering a race for women only, one that is noncompetitive, and where a woman feels safe and confident in attempting her first tri. If more people offer races like this, it will attract younger athletes and inexperienced athletes who may just catch that triathlon bug and become racers for life!

Contact Info:

• Address: YMCA
  2919 N Litchfield Rd.
  Goodyear, AZ US 85395
• Website: www.momstri.com
• Email: momstriaz@gmail.com
• Instagram: @momstri
• Facebook: @MomsTRIaz

Image Credit:
Marcie Lamb
Cian Boyle
Kelsey Royer

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