To register for the race, go to www.thenationstriathlon.com. Registration is already 75% complete so interested participants are urged to register soon.

The rapid growth in registration for the third annual Nation's Triathlon(R) To Benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society reflects a nationwide increase in triathletes and triathlon participation; particularly among women.

According to USA Triathlon, the ruling body for the sport, they've seen a 23% growth per year in triathlon participation from 2000-2006. An estimated 690,000 train for run/bike/swim events every year, though fewer compete. As the popularity of the sport has grown nationwide, so too has the participation of women.

"Registration for the 2008 Nation's Triathlon(R) To Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has more than tripled in the past three years," notes Charles Brodsky, founder of The Nation's Triathlon(R): "More than 40% of those registered are women. Nationwide, women are helping to fuel the tremendous growth of this sport, both at the Olympic and amateur level."

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which is a partner of The Nation's Triathlon through its Team in Training program, reports that 66% of their triathlon participants are now women as compared to 34% men. "Women are more likely to try endurance sports for the first time when they know their participation will help fund research to end disease," noted Nancy Klein, LLS Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications. "Team In Training, the world's largest endurance sports training program, attracts women because of the social aspects and camaraderie of training with a supportive team. Since 1988, more than 360,000 volunteer participants have helped raise more than $850 million for research into blood-related cancers through their participation in triathlons, marathons, half marathons and century bike rides."

Susan Thornton, 49, from Pottstown, PA, is one such volunteer. Since 1991, she has been battling a rare incurable form of blood cancer. Her many years of undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments has taught her a thing or two about endurance. And, when the opportunity came to support the cause of blood cancer research and fulfill a lifelong dream of completing a triathlon, she jumped headlong at the challenge. As a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training she will be participating in the The Nation's Triathlon on Sept. 14, 2008. Through Team In Training she will get five months of training with a certified coach and the camaraderie of a supportive team. In return, she will raise money to help LLS fund researchers seeking cures.

"Being a part of Team In Training is a way to gain some control over something you have no control over," Thornton says. "Running and biking and exercising make me feel great and so does being part of the team. I just decided I wanted to do something to give back."

Many link the growing popularity of triathlons to the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The 2000 Sydney Summer Games were the first to include triathlon as an Olympic sport. And the first American to medal in an Olympic triathlon was a woman - Susan Williams of Littleton, Colorado, who won an Olympic bronze in the Athens, Greece games in 2004.

Margie Shapiro from Herndon, Virginia, is one among a growing cadre of U.S. athletes training to compete as a triathlete in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing China. "Though I participated in track and field in college, it wasn't until much later that I became interested in triathlon as a sport," comments Shapiro. "With the launch of The Nation's Triathlon in 2006, the first triathlon in the Nation's Capital, it's been wonderful to have a world-class Olympic length event in my own backyard to help me prepare for the Beijing Games."

The Nation's Triathlon to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will take place Sunday, September 14, 2008 and consists of an Olympic distance triathlon with a 1.5k swim in the Potomac River, 40k bike course through downtown D.C., and a 10k run along Washington, DC's monumental corridor.


About the Nation's Triathlon (www.thenationstriathlon.com)
The Nation's Triathlon, founded by Charles L. Brodsky, is the premiere Olympic distance triathlon in the United States. Set against the magnificent and patriotic setting of the nation's capital and its monuments, participants in the Nation's Triathlon will swim 1.5k in the Potomac River, a course that will take them under the Memorial Bridge, bike 40k through downtown D.C. and out onto Clara Barton Parkway and Rock Creek Park, and run 10k through downtown D.C, past the White House, Washington Monument, National Mall, finishing on the plaza of the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue. Major sponsors for the Nation's Triathlon(R) To Benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society include: UnitedHealthcare- Official Healthcare Provider and sponsor of The UnitedHealthcare Sports & Fitness Expo; Timex- Official Timekeeper for The Timex Timing Zone; JetBlue- Official Airline and Sponsor for The JetBlue Airways Finish Festival and the Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel, Official Hotel for The Nation's Triathlon. Additional sponsors include: City Sports, Crocs, Coke Zero, Dasani, and Race Train Fitness.