Name: Betsy Brucken

Age: 45

Coach: Matt Russ

Personal: : I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio (a wonderful place despite some outdated perceptions) and am a dedicated Cleveland sports fan. I am currently living in Knoxville, TN in a small apartment that I share with my 2 cats and work as an environmental compliance lead for a remediation subcontractor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Athletic experience/accomplishments: I followed a pretty typical path to triathlons – played lots of sports in high schoool and college, then turned to competitive badminton (well, maybe this part is not so typical), then took up running, ran 16 marathons, started to accumulate running injuries so I began cross-training, which led to my first triathlon in 2003 (a pool sprint in which I had no idea what I was doing but had a lot of fun doing it). This eventually led to more tris, 2 IMs, followed (maybe not coincidentally) by my 3rd knee surgery. I have had to give up running so now I am starting my new athletic career as a time trialist and aquabiker. I am still pretty slow but that means that I can only get better and I am looking forward to a fun season of racing for 2010.

2010 Goals: Get faster! I have been coached by Matt Russ for several years and have already seen quite a bit of improvement in my biking times. Swimming, though, is still perpetually a work in progress..