PHLYTRI News

PHILADELPHIA (June 19, 2006) – The Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon has been getting popular, drawing many pro athletes and amateurs from across the globe. This year, the first all-amputee relay team to ever compete on the East Coast will make history June 25 in the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon's Olympic-distance triathlon. 
The team, comprised of Christie Adams, 32, of Bridgeport, Pa., Dennis "Denny" Chipollini, 53, of Skippack, Pa. and Sabrina Wisniewski, 35, of Flemington, N.J., will demonstrate their athletic prowess against 1,700 able-bodied individual entrants and 31 relay teams. The team will compete under the team moniker, "The Power of Three," or "P3." 
Although the team strives to win the competition, an equally-weighted goal is educating the public about the importance of accepting diversity in one's community. The team's main sponsor, Generation Hope, is a national non-profit organization founded in 2001 by Chipollini to raise awareness and understanding about disabilities and chronic illnesses while showing how "differently-abled" people can provide the general community with valuable examples of courage, perseverance and inspiration. 
Adams, who was born missing a fibula in her right leg, will complete the 10K run; Chipollini, a double leg amputee, the 40K biking section; and Wisniewski, whose own amputation occurred as a result of a childhood form of arthritis called scleroderma, will support the relay team by completing the 1.5K swim.
Race director Lars Beck is thrilled to have P3 join the race competitors: "It's always great to see athletes strive to achieve goals, and for P3, that bar has been set pretty high. Our course is a great venue to have the first-ever amputee relay team on the East Coast race their hearts out."