BACK IN THE RUNNING : Biathlete Liz Downing Finds Success Now That She’s Out of the Water

During her days as a triathlete, Liz Downing knew her hopes for victory usually would sink on the first leg of the swimming-cycling-running competition.

A competitive distance runner since age 9 and a cycling enthusiast, Downing enjoyed only marginal success when she started competing in triathlons in 1985. She invariably fell behind on the swimming leg, and had to play catch-up on the cycling and running legs.

“I would stand at the starting line, look at the water and say, ‘Oh God,’ ” said Downing, 30, who lives and trains in Portland, Ore. “The other women would just float across the water, and I would struggle.”

That was before July, 1987, when she discovered the biathlon, two running legs sandwiched around a bike ride. No water. Just land.

Now Downing has a “whole different attitude” when she stands at the starting line.

“I know it’s going to be a run-bike-run, I feel a lot more comfortable,” she said.

Comfortable enough to win six of the first eight events on the Coors Light Biathlon Series this year. She’ll aim for her seventh victory of the season Sunday when the 15-city tour stops in Brea.

The three-segment race--a five-kilometer (3.1-mile) run, a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) bike ride followed by another five-kilometer run--begins at 7 a.m. at the Brea Marketplace. It will be the eighth stop on the tour.

Downing, a two-time national biathlon champion, leads the standings with 200 points. Margaret Beardslee of Australia is second with 161, followed by Kristi Kidwell of Anaheim at 108. Tied for fourth with 68 points are Laura Lowe of Bakersfield and Sue Griesbach of Fullerton, winner of last year’s race.

Beardslee has decided to sit out the race in Brea as well as the next event in Seattle on Sept. 10 because of previous race commitments, race officials said.

“That’s definitely going to have an effect on the standings,” Downing said. “Margaret hasn’t been racing up to par lately. She was fourth in Dallas behind Kristi, Sue and I and was fourth in Overland Park, Kan., (on Aug. 13).”

The only events Downing hasn’t won this year were July 2 in Albuquerque, N.M., and July 9 in Denver. She sat out the Albuquerque race and finished second in Denver.

Downing won five events last year with an average victory margin of 5 minutes, 18 seconds. She said she often runs and bikes with the male competitors during a race to stay motivated.

In fact, she has a running bet with Joel Thompson of Encinitas, one of the top competitors on the men’s tour.

“We will set a difference in our times and then see if I can finish within the given time,” Downing said. “Last year he wound up winning and I had to make him a bunch of brownies.”

Downing races professionally now. She’s made sacrifices, quitting her job as a production manager with a Portland running clothes firm and spending less time with her husband, Pat.

“It’s really mind-boggling,” she said. “If someone would have told me five years ago that I would be doing this, I would have thought they were crazy.”

In high school, Downing played basketball and ran track and cross-country. As a senior, she finished fourth in the 440-yard run at the Oregon state high school championships.

“I loved running, but by the time I got to college I was burned out,” she said.

So Downing retired her running shoes, at least for a while, when she enrolled at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. She lettered in basketball, soccer and softball.

After she graduated with a degree in business administration and communications in 1981, Downing landed a job and continued playing soccer and basketball in city leagues to stay in shape.

Then she started running again.

“I got tired of the team sports,” she said. “Then I started commuting to work on a bike. Then I tried a triathlon on a whim and qualified for nationals.”

But because she wasn’t a strong swimmer, Downing usually finished near the middle of the pack. It wasn’t until 1987, when she entered the U.S. Biathlon National Championships on a whim, that she found her competitive niche.

Downing won the national title in her first biathlon. She defended the title last year and finished second this year to Erin Baker, one of the world’s top triathletes.

Downing joined the Coors biathlon tour part time last year. She’s competing full time this season.

The weekly competitions leave her little time for training. She competes on the Coors series from June to November, then starts the three-month Desert Princess series, which lasts through January.

During the spring, she trains and enters a few triathlons.

“It’s been tough because I’ve gone the last two years with no off-season,” she said. “You need a mental break. And it’s hard to train (in Portland) during the winter because it gets pretty icky.” Still, she manages to run 35 miles a week and ride her bike 175 to 200 miles a week. And, although it’s not her favorite activity, she swims 10,000 to 12,000 meters a week.

“I do low mileage compared to most triathletes and biathletes,” she said. “I stress quality instead of quantity. When you’re training for a short-distance biathlon, you don’t need the mega-miles when training.

“The short races are more of a sprint right from the gun. It’s pretty hard to sprint for an hour. In a race like this, it’s a different kind of pain.”

Downing said interest in the biathlons is growing. Race officials expect nearly 1,500 biathletes, compared to 891 for this race last year.

“It’s a short enough distance that the average person can do it,” she said. “They may not go very fast, but they won’t kill themselves doing it.”

The men’s field is expected to include 1972 Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter and current biathlon points leader Ken Souza of San Diego.

Souza, who splits training time between San Diego and Boulder, Colo., holds a 30-point lead over second-place Joel Thompson of Encinitas.

Other area competitors include Marty Churchfield of Redondo Beach, Jane Granskog of Bakersfield and Diane and Steven Ito, a husband and wife team, from Long Beach.