Revere grad runs (and bikes) to national championship
By Kathleen Folkerth
ATLANTA — Amy Kloner’s life consists of two things: working and training.
“After work I run and bike,” said Kloner, a Bath native who competes in triathlons and duathlons (which are similar to triathlons but don’t include swimming). “I don’t really have any other life. I used to have other hobbies.”
All that hard work has paid off. Last month, Kloner earned the title of USA Triathlon Duathlon Short Course National Champion in the women’s division. The win allows her to travel to Italy in September 2008 for international competition.
Kloner, 30, lives in Atlanta, where she works as a pharmaceutical sales representative. She travels the world to compete, but her recent win came closer to home, in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati.
“It was the best feeling in the world to see my dad [Dave Kloner] and his wife there and so proud of me,” Kloner said.
For the national championship, Kloner competed in a 10k run, a 40k bike ride and a 5k run. She finished in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 18 seconds.
Kloner said she’s always been competitive. She was an athlete at Revere High School, where she ran track. While a senior, she injured her knee and had to sit out the season. After graduating in 1995, she went to Arizona State University for college, where she walked on to the cross-country team during her sophomore year.
“It was great because I got to travel with the team,” she said.
She only did that for a year because she wanted to study abroad. After college, she joined the Peace Corps and went to Ecuador for two years. Following that she went to the University of Georgia, where she earned her master’s degree in business administration.
Kloner said she got interested in triathlons while in college.
“I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing,” she said. “I was just exercising to keep my sanity. But once I got out of grad school, I got sucked into the Ironman thing.”
About 18 months ago, Kloner obtained sponsorship from The Sport Factory, an Atlanta coaching and training organization. As part of her sponsorship she receives coaching from Matt Russ, which she said has helped her succeed.
“I found that all the real competitive athletes have coaching,” she said. “Without coaching we can overtrain ourselves.”
Kloner said she spends about 18 hours a week training. Several days a week she begins with a swim at 5:45 a.m.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to push your body and push yourself,” she said. “There are women out there who are very competitive.”
She said she was surprised about her recent victory.
“My coach is always pressing me to set goals,” she said. “Just to shut him up I said I want to be duathlon national champ, but I didn’t think it was going to happen this year. I didn’t expect it at all.
“It could have been anyone,” she added. “Everyone is hurting. It just comes down to who’s going to push through it and succeed in the race.”
Kloner will again compete close to home — in Mansfield — in the long course national championships, for which the running and biking routes are longer, Sept. 30.
“That will qualify me for worlds for the long course in Richmond, Va., in October,” she said.
She also plans to compete in November in Florida at the Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3, where she’ll take part in a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run.
Amy Kloner is shown crossing the finish line at the Duathlon National Championships. Photo courtesy of Melissa Kloner Hoyt
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