Stanford Med Student and Double-amputee Cheri Blauwet Takes on Triathlon
By Brain Metzler
Staff Writer
Sparks, NV (April 22) — A lot of triathletes were disappointed to have the swim portion of the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships race eliminated because of cold weather, but none were probably more bummed than Cheri Blauwet.
A newcomer to triathlon this season, the Stanford medical student was hoping to make her open-water swimming debut at Sparks Marina.
That's not all that unusual, until you consider that Blauwet had both of her legs amputated above the knee after being injured in a farm machinery accident as a 15- month-old baby in Iowa.
Because of cold water and air temperatures, race officials decided to remove the 1.5K swim portion of the race and replace it with a 3K run. On Saturday morning, Blauwet started with the other athletes, but completed a modified version of the course in order to stay out of the way of runners. She covered two laps of the bike course in a hand cycle (a modified wheelchair) and another lap of the bike course in her racing wheelchair.
She finished in about 3 hours, 30 minutes – well after the other competitors – but competed hard and had a fun time anyway. (Keep in mind Blauwet covered 120K of ground, while the rest of the competitors covered only 53K.)
Once school lets out in the summer, this dynamic 27-year-old plans to race and travel for a year before starting a residency and continue her quest to become a doctor. Her ultimate goal is to become a successful physician focused on physical therapy and rehabilitation while also promoting the health and human rights for individuals with disabilities on a global scale.
photo: Mark Epstein
A champion both in and out of the classroom, she maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her undergraduate career at Arizona, where she majored in molecular and cellular biology, and was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. In 2002, Cheri was selected to be one of 20 students nation-wide to be on the USA Today's All-American Academic Team. She was also named a winner of the 2004 Paul Hearne Leadership Award, given to three emerging leaders annually by the American Association of People with Disabilities.
Blauwet has been killing it in the wheelchair division of running races for years, posting two wins at the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon and three wins at the Los Angeles Marathon. She has dozens of other top-10 finishes from international events, including a sixth-place in the 800-meter run at the World Championships of Track & Field in 2003.
But she said she wanted to take a break from running races to see what other athletic challenges she could try. And that brought her to triathlon.
In January, she approached Sherry Smith, head coach of the Stanford Triathlon Club, and asked her to help her with her swimming. She completed her first triathlon –one with a pool swim– a few weeks ago and bought a wetsuit last week in preparation for the Collegiate National Championships.
"We got in the pool and we had to figure things out, but she worked hard at it, and she's come a long way," Blauwet said. "She's an amazing, positive spirit on the team. She comes to all the team workouts, and she's been to races just to cheer on her teammates."
For more about Cheri, visit www.cheriblauwet.com.
Catch the action from all of the events on several College Sports TV and CBS platforms beginning April 30 as part of the CSTV Collegiate Nationals, a collection of college championship events showcasing more than 2,000 athletes from more than 40 colleges. Seven sports are included in the inaugural Collegiate Nationals boxing, snowboarding, beach volleyball, triathlon, paintball, wakeboarding and whitewater kayaking.
CSTV Networks Inc. is the leading digital sports media company, connecting more fans to more college sports than any other company. Its many platforms for programming distribution include CSTV: College Sports TV, televising regular season and championship events for 35 men's and women's college sports; CSTV.com and its network of nearly 250 official athletic sites; CSTV All Access, broadband subscription packages providing live audio and video of more than 7,000 events annually; as well as satellite television and radio, in-flight entertainment, wireless networks and more. In November, CBS announced plans to acquire the company in January 2006. For more information, go to www.CSTV.com.
