The 2008 Double Ironman World Champion Leslie Holton has decided to enter the Race Across the West 2009 to qualify for the Race Across America in 2010. At a young 40 years of age, Leslie is no slouch when it comes to endurance sports. A few of her other accomplishments include the first every female finisher of the Kanza 200 mile MTB race and a 1st Place finisher of the Fireweed 400 Road Race (which also qualified her for RAAM 2010).
Whether it is Double Ironman World Championships, Ultraman World Championships, multiple ironman distance triathlons, 24 hour adventure races, mountain biking, cyclocross, ultrarunning, skiing, or snowshoeing, Leslie seems to be happy pushing her limits.
"Discovering my strengths are in my mental toughness and physical endurance and that I can be competitive at the long distances. I love to push my body, and am intrigued by the challenge involved in becoming one of the few female RAAM finishers.
Her crew for RAW 2009 includes some extremely talented athletes including Lauren Fithian, a Ultraman Hawaii world champion, Bill Tankovitch, Leadville 100 finisher and multiple Ironman finisher, Larry Nelson, ultracyclist and winner of the 2008 24 Hour Texas Time Trials along with Kate Menke and her sister Christie Hiemenz who both love to ride.
Leslie rounds out her life as a Research Engineer in computer assisted surgery applications for Medtronic Navigation. She is married to Drew Holton who also races and they have 3 amazing dogs and 2 wonderful cats to round out their family.
Leslie’s goal this year in competing in RAW is proof of concept for RAAM 2010 which she will be racing and to gain more of a love for ultracycling than she already has in her athletic pursuits. Her race strategy will be to ride steady, sleep when needed, take care with nutrition, and never forget to smile. One that note, she is riding for the Save the Tatas Foundation – Laughter heals!