Alisha Lion raced at the Memphis In May Triathlon finishing 2nd in a time 2:02:35. The 25th edition of the annual event with over 1,700 participants is always a fun festive affair. Elvis opened the event with an enthusiastic National Anthem followed by the unique time trial start of 1,700 individual start times. The professionals started in 10 second intervals and the age groupers started every 3 seconds. The event consisted of a 1.5 kilometer swim, a 40 kilometer bike leg, followed by a 10 kilometer run.

The race was won by Laura Tingle of Louisville Colorado in 2:02:32. Lion of Raleigh, North Carolina finished in 2nd place, only 3 seconds back, followed by Lauren Jensen of New Berlin, Wisconsin with a time of 2:04:27.

This was Alisha’s first time in Memphis and she enjoyed the atmosphere. “I came so close to winning, and anytime you lose a race by a small margin it’s natural to second guess your effort and replay the race over and over in your head,” said Lion. “I was a little angry with myself but Elvis cheered me up. All the festivities made for a great time after the race!”

Lion’s next race is the Eagleman 70.3 Triathlon on June 10th.

News Coverage:

• Inside Triathlon Magazine
• Triathlete Magazine
• Memphis Commercial Appeal

Alisha returned to her triathlon roots this weekend by racing the 6th annual Lake Hickory Triathlon in Granite Falls, NC, only minutes away from her hometown of Morganton. The inaugural Lake Hickory Tri was Alisha’s first triathlon back in 2002, only a few months after first stepping onto a road bike. In the interim, Alisha has focused exclusively on bicycle racing before testing her triathlon skills again last fall, and entering the professional ranks in triathlon this year. Alisha participated in the event as a featured racer and was happy to help with the official race starting duties and with awards distribution.

The race started out with a 750-yard swim in Lake Hickory under stormy-looking skies, but the clouds broke for a pleasantly warm, hilly 15.5 mile bike ride and a hard out-and-back 5km run. “This was a fun race, and a fun day, racing near my home in the NC mountains,” Lion said. “It was great to come back to where it all started, at the Lake Hickory Triathlon. When I did the race in 2002, I had only a couple months of training on my bike, hadn’t swam in 10 years, and had never even practiced a transition! This was so much fun to be back home and to have my family and friends as spectators, and as fellow racers.”

Competing as a mixed gender relay team against Alisha’s solo effort was her coach, Sonni Dyer, her friend, Deborah Elliot, and her father, Quez Little. “This was a good race for Alisha to maintain her race readiness, work on some fundamentals, and prepare for bigger races in the coming months,” commented Dyer. Lion’s father added “With Alisha’s crazy travel schedule, it’s not often we get to be at her races. It was so great to not only watch her race so close to home, but to be in the race myself and see her out on the run course. I’m so proud of my little girl!”

Thanks to Lisa Barron and Frye Regional Medical Center for coordinating a great race that will hopefully continue for years to come.

Alisha is back in action next weekend at the Memphis in May Triathlon.