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Milton women push for the finish line

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Sue Roberts lifts a bike onto a rack in the back of her SUV before the Milton Girls Gone Tri headed to the Trek Triathlon in Pleasant Prairie on Saturday.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Members of the Milton Girls Gone Tri team huddles for a cheer before heading out on the road to the Trek Triathlon in Pleasant Prairie on Saturday.

As you read this, 30 Milton area women are pushing each other through the Trek Women’s Triathlon in Pleasant Prairie.

A half-mile swim.

A 12-mile bike ride.

A 3.1-mile run.

As they reach the finish line, the satisfaction and feeling of empowerment likely will overwhelm and the months of training prove worthwhile.

“I just think it’s been a really good role model for our kids and other women in the community to realize you don’t have to be this elite athlete to do things,” said Roberta Berggren, a member of the Milton Girls Gone Tri.

A short talk with Berggren and three other members—Lesley Hammer, Laura Hauser and Michele Wilkinson—will motivate you to head out for a run. The inspiration and support the Milton Girls Gone Tri members offer each other is what’s made it so successful, they say.

The group started a few years ago when some teachers at Harmony Elementary School wanted to train for a triathlon.

One of the women, Holly Nelson, started asking other women in the community to get involved. It grew from there.

Last year, 11 participated in the Pleasant Prairie tri.

Today, there are 30.

“It’s so empowering,” Hammer said. “It’s just really a great feeling, a sense of accomplishment.”

The women train on their own and together, and they’ve set up swim, stretch and transition clinics.

This year, they sought sponsors for clothing. The women wear shirts with the group’s name, Milton Girls Gone Tri, on the front. On the back—thanks go to the sponsors, many of them husbands of the women—is the saying, “Milton Men Gone Broke.”

The biggest goal is to have all the women compete in today’s sprint triathlon, they say.

“But really just for women to be active, have fun,” Wilkinson said.

The group offers plenty of camaraderie and support for the women, who are mostly in their early 40s. They excitedly chatter about one women’s latest accomplishments during a recent swim or seek details on a new biking skirt one woman finally bought. Shh … don’t tell her husband.

The training has motivated husbands and kids, they say. Husbands have started running with their wives. Kids start talking about wanting to do a triathlon because they see mom doing it, they say.

Each woman has her own goals. One woman, for example, almost drowned twice and now can swim in the open water.

The Trek Tri is the big race, but groups of the women also compete in other runs, such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Madison to support the fight against breast cancer. Wilkinson is fighting breast cancer, so that’s been a motivator for the women.

“To be in this type of atmosphere with all the women, you take these baby steps, get encouragement, it does wonders,” Berggren said.