Triathlon Record Holder Amy Palmerio-Winters Nominated for ESPY Award - Triathlon Week

Robert G. · 06-25-2007, 05:06 PM

Amy Palmerio-Winters, below knee amputee, single mother of two and world record holder in the marathon and the Olympic distance triathlon, has been nominated for a 2007 ESPY award as best female athlete with a disability.

Ms. Palmerio-Winters, 35 years old, is the current world record holder in both Olympic distance triathlon (2:25) and marathon (3:04) for female below knee amputees. For the past two years, she has won the International Triathlon Union World Championships in Switzerland, and was named United States Triathlon Physically Challenged Female Athlete of the Year for 2006.

In addition, based on her performance in the 2006 New York City triathlon, Ms. Palmerio-Winters will be the first athlete with a disability to compete in an elite able bodied divison of the 2007 Nautica New York City Triathlon. She competes proudly as a member of Team A Step Ahead, a team of more than 75 athletes with disabilities. She was featured in the May issue of Runners World. Ms. Palmerio-Winters can be found online at seeamyrun.com. Ms. Palmerio-Winters is on course to qualify to compete in the United States Olympic Trials in the Marathon in 2008, where she would be the first athlete with a disability to compete in such an event.

What is especially noteworthy about Ms. Palmerio-Winters is her competitiveness against her able bodied peers. Besides holding world records in triathlon and the marathon, Ms. Palmerio Winters has consistently placed high in her age group in road races, marathons and triathlons, at times winning her age group and even winning first female overall. Her results include 5 Kilometer Race- 19:44 1st place overall women, Erie, PA 5 Kilometer race- 19:16 1st place overall women, 10K Great Race, Pittsburgh, PA- 41:20,1st place overall women.

The ESPY Awards is an annual sports awards event created and broadcast by ESPN. Begun in 1993 the event confers eponymous awards, fully styled as Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, for individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given ceremony.

As the similarly styled Grammy awards for music and Academy Awards for film the ESPY's are hosted by a contemporary celebrity. This year the ESPY's are hosted by Lebron James and comedian and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. The event will be at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on July 11 and will be shown on ESPN on Sunday, July 15 at 9 PM ET.