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Luke Airman first Air Force female to win triathlon

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman C.J. Hatch
  • 56th Firgter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE Ariz. --  First Lt. Kathy Rakel, 56th Operations Support Squadron chief of Intelligence readiness, became the first Air Force women ever to win the gold during the Armed Forces Triathlon Championships competition June 5. She completed the triathlon in 2 hours 4 seconds -- seven minutes ahead of any other female competitor.

The Armed Forces Triathlon Championship is a tough competition between the best triathletes from U.S. military services in a run, bike and swim event equaling almost 32 miles.

"This was an Olympic distance event so a seven minute lead is pretty significant," she said. "We cover a 1-mile swim, 25-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run."

Those distances don't sound like much but for a person at Luke to do this they would need to swim 60 laps in the pool, run 24 laps at the track then bike from the Lightning Gate to the Arrowhead Mall and back in two hours.

Lieutenant Rakel began doing triathlons at the Air Force Academy. She even competed in an Ironman event during her time there.

"I still hold the Ironman record at the academy for any female cadet," she said. "But I didn't really get competitive in triathlons until grad school at the University of Arizona."

During her time at U of A she decided to do something with this sport and got a coach.

"My first time applying for the Air Force triathlon team was in 2007 just after leaving the academy," she said. "I didn't make it on the team. They said I was too slow. I began to train hard along with managing my class schedule. I applied again in 2008 with better times and made the team. I made the team again in 2009 and then this year I made the team and won the gold."

Lieutenant Rakel hasn't always had the best of luck during her races. During both the 2008 and 2009 competitions she got flat tires on her bike. In 2009 this made her drop out, not completing the bike portion. These trials tested her, but she continued to train on daily.

"A regular training day starts with a swim from 5 to 6:40 a.m.," she said. "After work, I get in a bike or run finishing my training day around 7 p.m."

She plans on continuing her training to achieve two more goals.

"Next summer is the World Military Games in Brazil, and I want to be the first American to win at those games," she said. "Then I would like to go back to Brazil for the Olympics in 2016."

Lieutenant Rakel also helped the Air Force triathlon team take a clean sweep of gold medals in the competition; a feat that has also never been done before.

Air Force Capt. James Bales, a Wilford Hall Medical Center orthopedic surgeon, took gold in the male category for the Air Force with a time of 1:46:32.