Intrepid Athletes : Sports: Two amputees will race together as a relay team in today’s Catalina triathlon covering 22 kilometers.

In the months of preparation leading up to the Catalina triathlon today, Danny Robinson of Ventura knew his performance could only improve.

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“Last year I came in dead last” in the swim, ride and run race, he said.

“But,” he joked, “I swept the amputee division.”

In fact, Robinson was the only amputee in the race. This year, though, he will have company--24-year-old Rene Verduzco of Oxnard.

Unlike the majority of amputees--older people with diabetes--both Verduzco and Robinson lost their legs in accidents when they were young and physically capable.

“It’s really easy to feel sorry for yourself,” said Robinson, 45. “I went through that, too. But you have to get on with your life.”

This will be the first race for Verduzco, a technician at Channel Islands Prosthetics-Orthotics. The Oxnard native has remained active during the nine years since a train accident caused him to lose his right leg below the knee.

“I get a lot of exercise--football, basketball, that sort of thing--but I just started running seven weeks ago,” Verduzco said. “A couple of times a week, me and a friend start at the mission and run up the hill to the (Father Serra) cross and back.”

Verduzco will ride the bicycle as part of the two-man relay team. The bicycle portion is 16 kilometers of up-and-down riding over Catalina’s steep roads.

Since the third member of the relay team dropped out at the last minute, Robinson will do both the five-kilometer run and the one-kilometer swim.

Although many on the island know him from when he used to live there, Robinson expects that more than a few spectators will be surprised to see an amputee coming out of the water. But he will respond to any astonished looks, he said, with his standard comment: “Look out for the sharks.”

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Robinson said the idea of a relay team came from John McAtee, co-owner of Channel Islands Prosthetics-Orthotics, who sponsored Robinson last year and will sponsor both men this year.

Although McAtee said that few amputees are as active as Robinson and Verduzco, there are more out there than is apparent. Most cover their prostheses with clothing and avoid situations that would expose their condition, he said.

Robinson went to the other extreme. He put a flag on his leg.

“I could have put a foam cover on Danny’s to make it look more like a leg, but he didn’t want that,” McAtee said. “He wanted the California flag laminated right onto” the prosthetic leg.

Robinson said the prosthesis isn’t something he wanted to hide. On the contrary, the Ventura College psychology student thinks the 1978 motorcycle accident that cost him his left leg was a small price to pay for a new life.

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“Losing this leg was the best thing that happened to me,” he said. “Before I lost it, I was a heavy drinker and generally out of control.”

The transition to his new, sober life began shortly after his leg was amputated. A fellow amputee showed him an article on Terry Fox, a cancer victim who made a much-publicized run across two-thirds of Canada in 1980 before succumbing to the disease.

“I said to myself: I’m gonna do that. I’m not going to let this thing get me down.”

Since then he tried several artificial legs before McAtee urged him to try a new carbon fiber model called Flex-Foot, an $8,000 device made by a company in Laguna Hills.

“It’s been in the last 10 years that space-age materials like carbon fiber have made running--competitive running--possible,” McAtee said. “All the current records were made on the Flex-Foot.”

The current amputee record holder in the 100-meter dash is less than 2 seconds off the world record time of 9.8 seconds--for everyone, able-bodied and disabled alike. Robinson, however, expects to finish more than a few seconds off the course record today.

When most of the contestants are finished and enjoying a post-race beer, Robinson will still be chugging through the run. Nevertheless, he will be enjoying the encouragement of a faithful crowd.

“I know all my old friends will be there cheering me on,” he said.