Women are making a major contribution to the rise in popularity of triathlon both nationally and locally.

USA Triathlon, the official governing body for triathlon in the United States, has seen a 23 percent growth per year in triathlon participation from 2000 to 2006. An estimated 690,000 people train for run/bike/swim events every year, though fewer actually compete. As the popularity of triathlon has grown nationwide, so has the participation of women.

Registrations for the Nation’s Triathlon, the first triathlon in Washington, D.C., has tripled in the past three years, says Charles Brodsky, the event’s founder. “Women are helping to fuel the tremendous growth of this sport,” he says.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), which is a partner of the Nation’s Triathlon through its Team in Training program, reports that 66 percent of its triathlon participants are women. Nancy Klein, senior vice president of marketing communications for LLS, said that Team in Training attracts women because of the social aspects and camaraderie of training with a supportive team.

The increase in triathlon’s popularity could be linked to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, which were the first to include triathlon as an Olympic sport. The fist American to win an Olympic medal for triathlon was a woman—Susan Williams of Littleton, Colo.—who won an Olympic bronze in the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.

An Olympic-distance triathlon consists of a 1.5 mile swim, a 40K bike ride and a 10K run.

For more information about the Nation’s Triathlon, visit www.thenationstriathlon.com.