Posted: July 18, 2006

Triathlon: Winters Shatters Amputee Triathlon Record

Amy Winters a below the knee amputee from Meadville, Pennsylvania broke the Olympic distance triathlon record at the New York City Triathlon on Sunday July 16. Her winning time of 2:25:24 eclipsed the previous record in this triathlon distance by over 25 minutes. Ms. Winters along with 2 other Team A Step Ahead athletes, Tommy Koehler and Kelly Bruno, qualified to compete at the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland this coming September.

Competing in the below the knee amputee physically challenged division of the race which included 12 athletes, 3 female and 9 male, Ms. Winters placed 1st among women and 2nd overall in this division. In comparing Ms. Winters time to all able bodied triathletes in her age category 30-34 Ms. Winters would have placed 4th in this category against 220 other athletes. In May of this year Ms. Winters broke the amputee marathon record in a time of 3:26 knocking almost 27 minutes off the previous world s best for amputee females.

Ms. Winters a 33 year-old welder and mother of two, lost her leg following a 1994 motorcycle accident. Twenty-five surgeries and three years later, her left leg was amputated below the knee. Following the amputation, it took 3 years before Ms. Winters could even try to run again. "I was told in 1994 I wouldn't run again," Ms. Winters said. "That lit a spark in me. I got a second chance in life with this special prosthesis."

After receiving the running prosthesis from A Step Ahead Prosthetics, Ms. Winters was provided extensive professional training and advice as a member of Team A Step Ahead. This multi-disciplinary approach to her training regimen involved prosthetists, physical therapists, and other elite amputee athletes who are also Team A Step Ahead members. Since receiving her running prosthesis Ms. Winters has been fitted with a customized prosthesis for cycling and was given a top of the line triathlon bicycle as part of her sponsorship by A Step Ahead Prosthetics.

Ms. Winters is now focusing her training on the upcoming ITU World Triathlon championships and the Chicago Marathon in October with a goal of breaking her able-bodied marathon time of 3 hours and 16 minutes.

A Step Ahead Prosthetics is located in Hicksville, New York, and sponsors Team A Step Ahead, a group of elite amputee athletes from around the world who participate in high-level events like the Paralympics, Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, and marathons. Team A Step Ahead members hold or have held world records in the 100 m (female, above-knee amputee), 200 m (female, above-knee), 400 m (female, above knee), and marathon (female, above-knee and below-knee). Members also receive training from coaches with expertise training amputee athletes, including many Paralympians. In addition to providing customized athletic prostheses and related services to high-end athletes, A Step Ahead has developed the Skin Tones silicone covering, which protects prosthetic components while flawlessly duplicating the missing limb(s).

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