2020 Member Spotlight – Sheryl and Matt Romeo
January, 2020
How did you get involved in triathlons?
We got started in triathlons after doing the Honolulu Marathon. We hadn’t a clue about training, it was hot, and we couldn’t even keep up with the guy who was running the race while carrying and playing a tuba. When we got home an Ironman pal of ours who had been trying to get us into tri’s for quite some time went in for the kill. We didn’t even own bikes at that time.
You recently did the H3 Triathlon Race to the Base. Why did you pick this race?
Our daughter and her family lived in Hawaii for many years and we would occasionally do races when we went to visit her or probably more truthfully, we would time our visits around races. This was going to be our last race in Hawaii while they still lived there. As it turned out our daughter and her family moved back to the mainland a month before this race.
Her friends had done this race the previous year and said that it was just fantastic. The H3 – a highway that crosses the mountain range between Honolulu and Kaneohe – is closed for the race. You start with a swim in Honolulu and then get on your bike and go up up up and then through the tunnel and then scream down the mountain. The race finishes with a run on the Marine Corps Base. The ride up had been easier than I had expected as we did a lot of hill work and the down hill was the most terrifying/exhilarating ride I ever did.
Any memorable races or experience?
A memorable race was the Escape from the Cape race. It seemed like a good idea when I signed us up but then when we were on the ferry, and we were on the ferry for a long time because of a weather delay, I got really really nervous. Once it started though it was like lemmings jumping off a cliff.
What do you enjoy outside of triathlon?
Is there anything? Just joking.
