It started with a simple observation.
Denise Perez noticed when she gathered with other runners at the starting line or celebrated with them at the end of a big race, she often was the only dark-skinned athlete in the crowd.
“One day I was at a race, and I looked around and thought, ‘Where are my sisters?’ I didn’t see any Hispanic or African-American women,” Perez, 44, recalls. “Even in a race with 2,000 or 3,000 women, I’d only see maybe a dozen.”
Perez’s desire to see more minority women compete in running and other athletic pursuits has blossomed into the Hermanas Triathlon team, a Denver-based training and support group for minority women interested in the three-sport combination of swimming, cycling and running.
In the two years since Perez and trainer and coach Yoli Casas teamed up to draw more Latinas to the sport, Hermanas has grown to include more than 60 women at all ability levels — from those just learning to swim or cycle to seasoned athletes with several races under their belts. While the group’s nucleus is Denver, membership has spread throughout the country, with Hermanas in Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico.
In launching the group, Perez, an aide to Denver City Councilman Paul Lopez, sought the help of Casas, 44, a former elite athlete and coach, who agreed to train the women recruited into the group.
Casas, who was born in Peru, moved to the United States from Venezuela when she was 16 to pursue her athletic career, a pursuit she said would have been nearly impossible had she remained in South America.
“In South America, I wasn’t supported as an athlete,” said Casas, explaining that many Latino cultures, particularly when she was growing up in the 1960s, didn’t encourage women to excel at sports.
It’s a sentiment that many of the women involved in Las Hermanas echo.
“Culturally and traditionally, we just weren’t encouraged to participate in sports,” Perez said on a recent afternoon at Boulder Reservoir, where she volunteered at a triathlon event. “We just weren’t raised to be athletic.”
As a result, many of the women who join Las Hermanas are first-timers unfamiliar with the dynamics of the sport. Casas works with them at all levels, giving some their first-ever swim instruction, while showing others how to change bicycle tires and turn corners at high speeds.
Angie Rivera-Malpiede, 54, was among the women who came to Las Hermanas with limited experience but a desire to get into shape and push herself to a new level. The Denver resident and mother of two grown daughters took up running in an effort to lose weight.
In just a few months, Rivera-Malpiede has completed several races, including her first half-marathon in early June. Now, Casas is helping her expand into triathlon territory, beginning by teaching her to swim.
“I’ve been terrified of swimming ever since I was 14 and almost drowned,” said Rivera-Malpiede who enthusiastically recalled Casas’ efforts to help her lose her fear of the water and become a confident swimmer. “Yoli got me into the water. Her voice is so calming. She talked me through it and let me feel like I was in control.”
Casas, an exercise physiologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, works individually with the group’s members to help them train. She and Perez also coordinate a regular schedule of group training activities for members. The women regularly meet to run, swim at recreation centers or ride their bikes at Chatfield Reservoir.
The women in Las Hermanas range from their 20s to their 60s. Their ability levels span from first-timers still months from competing to seasoned athletes. No matter what their ability, they say they all benefit from the support and camaraderie they’ve found in Las Hermanas.
“It’s the best thing for Latinas interested in working out and fitness,” said Jalecia Johnson, a flight attendant from Aurora. “The group is very encouraging, and everyone pushes you to do better.”
The 2007 Seattle Danskin was the first major event for Las Hermanas members, nine of whom participated in the race. The group also participated in that year’s Orlando Danskin competition. This year, members are again scheduled to race in Seattle and to participate in the Tri for the Cure at Cherry Creek Reservoir on Aug. 3.
The Tri for the Cure will be the first triathlon for Johnson, 35, who started running in an effort to lose weight and has since participated in several races, including the Cherry Creek Sneak.
While the group has been instrumental in helping its members reach their fitness goals, Casas and Perez say the bigger purpose of Hermanas is to provide a support system that encourages women to push themselves outside their comfort zones.
“We’re using triathlon as a way to get women to do something they never dreamed they could do,” said Casas. “Once you do something you didn’t think you could do, the sky is the limit.”
Casas and Perez volunteer their time with Las Hermanas, and membership in the group is free. The group is working to get nonprofit certification and to secure sponsors for some races.
This story appears in Spanish in The Denver Post’s Viva Colorado issue now on newsstands.
For information about Hermanas Triathlon team, contact Denise Perez at hermanastriathlon@gmail.com.
