Grass Valley, Calif. September 9, 2016 – A colorful sea of athletes will once again be swimming, biking and running at the 22nd Annual Barbara Schmidt Millar Celebration of Life Triathlon, scheduled to take place at 9:00 a.m., Sept. 18 at the Scott’s Flat Lake boat ramp in the Cascade Shores community of Nevada City.
This year’s event is particularly special to participants, volunteers and supporters as it marks the return of the full BSM Triathlon after the event was canceled in 2014 due to wildfires and then changed to a Duathlon in 2015 after an unprecedented drought significantly impacted the lake.
In addition to individuals and teams swimming .5, biking 11 and running 2.8 miles, non-triathletes or those looking to experience a fun-filled Sunday morning are invited to sign-up for the 5k fun run/walk portion of the event.
Proceeds from the BSM Celebration of Life Triathlon provides subsidized mammograms to low-income patients at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital’s Women’s Imaging Center and awards scholarships to female graduates of Nevada Union who are interested in pursuing a degree in healthcare.
Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation Executive Director Kimberly Parker says the impact of 21 years of funding for early breast cancer detection has been huge.
“The triathlon provides critical funding to help in the fight against breast cancer benefiting hundreds that needed assistance over the years,” commented Parker. “In addition, many of our participants do so as a way of celebrating being cancer free, to honor someone or to accomplish a personal goal.”
Event Co-Director of five years Nancy Avilla agreed and added that this year will be her last year as the chair and race coordinator of the BSM Triathlon committee, with Nevada County local Vanessa Hale taking over in 2017.
“Vanessa has been co-directing with me this year and is the perfect addition to the BSM family,” said Avilla. “Her positive energy shines through in everything she does.”
BSM Celebration of Life Triathlon Sponsorship Coordinator and Nevada City Mayor Evans Phelps also passed the reins to another Nevada County local, Elizabeth Dreher, who is coincidentally the first ever BSM Celebration of Life scholarship recipient, is a clinical dietician at SNMH and has been training for her first triathlon. Another exciting local addition is Jason Maier, who owns a timing company and will capture the athletes as they cross the finish line.
For more information on the event, to register or to make a donation, please visit www.bsmtri.org or call Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation at (530) 477-9700.