By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Lisa Richards escaped Alcatraz.

In a grueling triathlon that involved a 1.5-mile swim through the icy waters of San Francisco Bay, an 18-mile bike ride and a punishing 8-mile run, the Goffstown resident accomplished a task that proved too difficult for a generation of prisoners locked up on “The Rock.”

“It’s one of those things that you dare yourself to do,” Richards said of the event, which took place June 4. “Can you take the challenge?”

Richards took the challenge and completed it in the length of time less ambitious souls would spend watching a long movie.

But for Richards, the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon is the latest of 25 triathlons she has completed in the past six years. Looking back on its challenges and triumphs, Richards has labeled her Alcatraz performance a “solid event,” and one from which she has learned some more skills necessary to compete in such challenges.

As one of the country’s most popular triathlons, Escape from Alcatraz routinely turns down thousands of contenders every year. Richards, however, was the first woman in the state chosen to participate.

She knew the waters of San Francisco Bay would be cold, so she trained by swimming in Glen Lake during April and May, when the water temperatures ranged from the 40s to the 50s.

This prepared her for the splash into San Francisco Bay, where the waters were 55 degrees on the day of the race.

“That’s where my training was most useful,” Richards said. “A lot of people thought it would be shocking to jump into the water, but to me it felt like swimming in bath water.”

After reaching the shores at San Francisco’s Marina Green Beach and a 1-mile run, Richards then embarked on the bike race.

This proved to be one of the event’s more challenging aspects, as the bike fell prey to mechanical difficulties.

Less than a mile into the race, Richards found she had suffered the first flat tire in her six-year triathlon history. However, she managed to chang the tire without letting the situation phase her.

“I can handle this,” she recalls thinking in a journal of the event. “I just swam from Alcatraz.”

After changing the tire, misfortune struck again when Richards took a spill on her bike. But, as before, she continued on for the remainder of the bicycle portion. It was during this time she also got to admire the city’s “breathtaking views.”

Finally came the run, the last portion of the event. Some portions of the run were flat, others involved the ascent and descent of hills.

Included in the run are the notorious “Sand Ladders,” a series of 400 steps up a cliff after running through the deep sands of Baker Beach.

As described on the triathlon’s Web site, “This experience will drain the legs of even the best professionals, as there is nothing like it in the sport of triathlon.”

Following the Sand Ladder, Richards recalls in her journal, “Soon enough, I crossed the finish line on Marina Boulevard. I escaped Alcatraz and then some.”

She also escaped Alcatraz with a respectable time. Richards finished the race in 3 hours, 31 minutes and 39 seconds, finishing 1,093 in a field of 1,500.

“I think I had a solid event,” Richards said. “I wish I hadn’t had to waste precious minutes working on my bike, but I’m still happy with how I did.”

Although she’s now a seasoned competitor in the triathlon circuit, the St. Albans, Vt., native only began athletic competition in 2000.

“I saw it as a way to get in shape and have some fun,” Richards said of her first experiences with races and other competitions.

Richards’ first competitive running experience came in the Hooksett Old Home Days 5K Road Race in August 2000.

Richards has since competed in other challenges, such as an iron man triathlon in July 2004, at Lake Placid. An iron man triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bicycle event and completing with a 26-mile marathon.

Anyone interested in learning some of Richards’ secrets of competition can attend her triathlon skills class June 25 at the Allard Center YMCA.

The session runs from 8 a.m. to noon and costs $80 for the public, $65 for members, and will cover topics including how to change tires, running form, biking skills and effective transitions.

A graduate of Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., Richards is a secretary for a simulated reality company in Bedford.

Richards said she is currently in training for a number of events. Her next endeavor will be an 8-mile swim across Lake Champlain from Willsboro Point, N.Y., to Burlington, Vt.

And while she looks back fondly on her recent competition in San Francisco, she said she enjoyed the city almost strictly as an athlete and not as a tourist.

“The best view of San Francisco is when you’re swimming there from Alcatraz,” she said.