Nancy Stevens has competed in 14 triathlons in her career, and on Sept. 2, the blind athlete chalked up a first by racing in her first triathlon in a foreign country in the 2006 Lausanne International Triathlon Union World Championships in Switzerland.

Guided by fellow Glenwood resident Helen McQueeney, Stevens swam 1.5K in Lake Geneva's waters, biked 40K through Lausanne's hilly landscape and ran another 10K to complete the race in 3 hours, 18 minutes and 36 seconds.

Stevens, as she has in most of her other triathlons, raced as the only entry in the blind women's division. Although there were an estimated 40 other disabled racers, few are blind. There were two other American blind men racers that Stevens was excited to compete against.

"Both of them have useable vision," said Stevens, who is completely blind. "We beat one of the guy's teams by 12 minutes."

The Stevens-McQueeney duo trained together twice a week throughout the summer and even cycled in the Courage Classic near Copper Mountain in July to prepare for the event. That was the easy part. The hard part came once the two arrived in Switzerland and struggled to find a tandem bike, which is imperative for Stevens to use. Stevens rides a tandem bike in Glenwood, but it could not be disassembled in order to be shipped to Switzerland. Stevens and McQueeney found one, but it was too big and were still searching for a bike with only 60 hours to go before the race was set to start.

"It was stressful for a couple days - not knowing if we would be able to complete the race," Stevens said.

Stevens finally found one that fit, but faced another challenge once she started the biking leg of the event.

"We lost the chain at the start of the bike portion of the race, but Helen and I managed to put it back on and ride," Stevens said.

The rest of the race went much more smoothly, despite the chilly, 64-degree water in Lake Geneva.

"The swim portion was my best-ever mile swim: 38 minutes and 3 seconds. It took some practice to swim in the full wet suit," Stevens said. "Our run also went well. It was much cooler in Switzerland, so we were able to keep a quicker pace this year. The thing I will have to practice this year, in addition to my training, is my transitions between sports."

Stevens and McQueeney returned to the U.S. after the race and with only an eight-day break, competed in the Tri-Glenwood triathlon. McQueeney topped the female 55-59 age group with a time of 1:44.43 and Stevens won the physically challenged division with a time of 2:07.53. The event held special value as Stevens' father, Ronald, also competed in the race.

Stevens will now take a much deserved rest.

"Now I'll cut back on training for a few months and then hopefully start training for the Moab half marathon in March 2007," Stevens said. "Worlds will be in Germany next year. I was an exchange student in Germany while attending college, so I would like to compete there."

Stevens, along with fellow members of the Roaring Fork Women's Triathlon team, will also focus on the planning of a triathlon camp for blind/visually impaired women and sighted guides to be held April 19-22 of next year. The goal of this camp is to introduce more visually impaired women and women guides to the sport.

"One of my favorite things to do is to encourage and mentor other blind athletes to sporting activities," said Stevens. "I feel it is a way for me to give back to the sport."