Newby-Fraser Now Concentrating on Building Her Triathlon Resume

Paula Newby-Fraser of Encinitas has done so well on the triathlon circuit this year that she recently quit her part-time job.

Newby-Fraser, 26, is no longer a travel agent but a full-time triathlete whose work this year in swimming, biking and running has pushed her near the top of the growing pool of talented women in her sport.

She is second in the U.S. Triathlon Series Grand Prix points, trailing Kirsten Hanssen of Denver by 225, entering Sunday’s USTS stop at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The race begins at 6:45 a.m.

Newby-Fraser said she will probably make almost $60,000 in winnings and sponsorship money this year. This week, she signed with The Weekend Exercise Company as her title sponsor. Goodby part-time job.

“I just decided in the last few weeks that I didn’t want to work anymore,” she said.

Newby-Fraser, who is from Zimbabwe and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from the University of Natal in the South African city of Durban, left her homeland in March 1986 to concentrate on triathlons.

Her first triathlon was in Durban in 1985. She trained just two months for it but won.

“I had a very good strong swim background, and I had just started doing a little running,” she said. “I was a little shocked that I won it. The sport was just growing there, and there was about 5 or 6 women in the field. It sounds really good, but it probably wasn’t such a great accomplishment.”

It was enough incentive, however, for her to continue. Then she heard about a place where a number of triathletes live and train.

“I knew that San Diego was the place to be for triathlons, so I automatically moved here,” she said. “I had met a couple of people from Leucadia and moved out initially to stay with them.”

She received her green card earlier this year. It will be another 6 years before she can gain citizenship.

“It’s a very long and very arduous and very expensive process,” she said. “But I’m going through it nonetheless.”

Newby-Fraser lives with triathlete Paul Huddle and biathlete Joel Thompson. It’s more than coincidence that she and Huddle are each having the best years of their careers. They approached this year with a little different strategy than in the past.

“I decided at the beginning of this year that I had to train a lot harder and more consistently throughout the year,” Newby-Fraser said. “And I have chosen to go to all the bigger races this year and just put myself out there and race against the toughest competition all year. I just have made me better racing against girls that are faster than me all the time.”

She said Huddle, 25, fourth on the men’s Grand Prix points list, has also improved from putting himself on the line against the best every race.

“I think that we both gained from the experience of not staying local, going to low-key races in California we could probably win or place real high in,” Newby-Fraser said. “I think it has given us a lot more confidence.”

Newby-Fraser, who won the 1986 Ironman and was third in ’85 and ‘87, had always concentrated her training on the Ironman and never the short course races of the USTS Series. That’s why she has placed no higher than 14th in the Grand Prix rankings. This year, her concentration on the short course has helped put her among the elite in the sport.

“I’m surprised that I came so far so quickly,” she said.

With only the Ironman (Oct. 22) and the USTS Championship (Nov. 12) remaining after Sunday, and $15,000 at stake for the Grand Prix winner, the question is how much farther can Newby-Fraser go?