WHITEFACE TURNS 50 - Adirondack Sports & Fitness

10 Adirondack Sports & Fitness
ATHLETE PROFILE
Mary Duprey
by Shannon Brescher Shea
Speaking to Mary Duprey, most people
would not guess that she is a competitive
athlete, much less a highly successful one.
She rarely talks about her cycling victories or
impressive number of wins. But when she
reaches the starting line, her competitors
don’t even have time to realize how formidable
she is before she disappears from sight.
But Mary was not always a dominant
force. Rather, she was far less active and
healthy in her early 20s than she is now.
“I used to smoke cigarettes, drink a lot of
alcohol,” she said. “Then I decided I needed
to get my stuff together.”
Cycling attracted her as an activity, so
she decided it might be the right thing to
get her life in gear. Liking the freedom of
the bicycle, she started competing in local
time trial events and soon “fell in love with
[it].” Participating in these rides awakened
Mary’s inner athlete. “I think it’s just the
drive that I had,” she said. “If I am going to
do something, I’m going to go all out.”
As her dedication grew, she quickly
became known in the area’s athletic scene.
She lives in Rouses Point, near the New
York/Canadian border, but participates in
events throughout the region. Upon a fellow
rider’s recommendation, a leader of a
local kayak triathlon team called her one
day, and said, “I heard you were a good
cyclist. Do you want to be on the team?”
Although Mary had never met the caller,
she readily accepted the invitation. Mary
has participated every year since then
in The Great Race triathlon each July, a
3.1-mile run, 12-mile –bike, and 3-mile
canoe/kayak event in St. Albans Bay, Vt.
� START OF 2006 DUATHLON IN SAN JUAN,
PUERTO RICO - SECOND PLACE IN WOMENS’
DIVISION.
� WITH TORI AND GERRY AT 2007 NYS TIME
TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN STILLWATER –
SILVER MEDAL IN WO MENS’ OPEN DIVISION.
� 2007 COLCHESTER, VT., TRI-OPTION
TRIATHLON – FIRST PLACE IN WOMENS’
KAYAK DIVISION
Mary’s reputation has only continued
to expand since then, both as a cyclist
and kayak triathlete. Testifying to her
toughness, fellow athlete Clyde Yarnell of
Essex, Vt., commented that not only does
she win the women’s events, but regularly
beats many of the top men. Describing the
men at The Great Race triathlon, he said,
“They can compare their times only by
how many minutes Mary had beat them
by. That’s pretty impressive. ‘Mary’s only
beat me by two minutes this year… Mary’s
only beat me by one minute this year…’”
Mary’s winning has inspired her to
tackle new challenges. “She wins a lot,
no question. But I think she is probably
satisfi ed to compete well,” said Don West
of [to be determined], who participates
in bicycle time trial races with her. “She
won’t just stay home where she knows
she can win.” Mary has competed as far
away as Puerto Rico, and even brought
her bicycle to Ireland on a business trip
so that she could train.
In September 2007, Mary topped even
herself with her result in the Josh Billings
RunAground triathlon, a 27-mile bike,
fi ve-mile canoe/kayak, and six-mile run
event in Lenox, Mass. Even though it
was her fi rst time competing individually,
she set a new women’s record by
over fi ve minutes. “That is a huge time,”
Clyde said, emphasizing that it included
Age: 48
Family: Husband, Gerry;
Step-Daughters,
Karen, 36, Shelley, 34;
Daughters, Lauren, 25,
Tori, 14
Residence: Rouses Point
Occupation: Quality Assurance
Manager, Wyeth
Pharmaceuticals
Sport: Bicycling; Kayak/Canoe
Triathlon (Kayak or
Canoe/Bike/Run)
all ages. Mary described it as her proudest
moment yet, commenting, “I was just
really pleased with myself that I was able
to do that.” The Josh Billings triathlon is
especially challenging as it begins with a
mass bicycle start of over 500 cyclists.
However, Mary has never been content
to fall back on her accomplishments.
Don, who met her over 20 years ago,
recalled her reluctance to enter bike/run
events. “She said, ‘Oh, I can’t run.’ Within
a year or two, she just started running,” he
said. Now, she often wins her age group
for the running portion of multisport
events. Similarly, she recently registered
for the Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon, a
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1mile
run event on June 29, 2008, although
she doesn’t consider herself a swimmer.
“I’m going to learn how to swim in the
next fi ve months,” she said. “It excites me.
I guess I have a fear of water – so I think
I’m doing it just to overcome the fear.” She
hopes that once she completes this halfironman
she may be able to tackle the
Ironman USA Lake Placid triathlon (July
20, 2008) in a future year.
Despite her success, Mary rarely speaks
about her triumphs. Instead, she is known
for her quiet modesty, allowing her victories
to speak for her. “What’s the most amazing
to see is that she’s such a pleasant person,”
Clyde said. “You wouldn’t even know she’s
a top-notch athlete. You never know until
she gets on the bike and she gets her game
face.” Similarly, Don said, “She doesn’t
boast... Just does it quietly and lets it go.
She’s not in it for recognition.”
Rather than touting her accomplishments,
Mary works hard to share her dedication
to sports with her family. Although
she fi rst met her husband, Gerry, through
work, it was their running that brought
them together. They both worked the second
shift, ending at 1am. “When you’re
done at one o’clock in the morning,
you’re usually not ready to go home and
go sleep,” she said. Instead of retreating to
bed, some of the employees would go out
for very early morning runs. In that group,
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Mary and Gerry connected, running under
the streetlights in the quiet night streets.
Now, Mary balances her priorities
by involving her family in her activities.
Much of the time, her family acts as her
support crew, which Mary said is “actually
sometimes harder than doing the event.”
Describing Mary and her husband, Don
said, “They’re really a unit… They take up
the slack for each other.” For example, Gerry
often acts as a timer for the weekly time trials
that Mary participates in and organizes.
In addition to acting as Mary’s crew
and cheering section, her family often
takes part in the events. Last August, Mary
and Gerry competed in the 17-mile Herc
Speed Hiking Competition (with 6,678foot
elevation gain/loss) at Sugarbush
Resort in Warren, Vt., which Gerry
described as “just the toughest thing I’ve
ever seen.” To involve, Tori, her teenage
daughter, in her activities, Mary bought a
tandem bike. Mother, father, and daughter
form a team for The Great Race triathlon
with Mary kayaking, Gerry running,
and Gerry and Tori cycling together.
Recently, Mary has built upon her
experience in the sporting world to
reach out to non-athletes. Seeing her
self-described “passion for fi tness,” her
employers at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
asked her if she would act as the fi tness
center manager. In this position, Mary
has organized employee challenges and
established an indoor walking path.
A natural outgrowth of this job has
been Mary’s participation in the American
Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women”
outreach program. After an organizational
representative helped the center
start a walking program, Mary decided to
join the Plattsburgh chapter. “Our goal is
to bring awareness to women and to men
that heart disease is actually the number
one killer of women in America,” she said.
The group recently held its inaugural Go
Red for Women Breakfast, a well-attended
educational event and plans to hold
another one next year.
The cause is especially close to Mary,
because she suffers from high blood pressure
herself. “It was hard for me to believe I
had high blood pressure,” she said. “I actually
fought it for a couple of years.” Although
she understands how some women wish
to ignore the issue, she believes raising
awareness of heart disease is essential. “It’s
very preventable,” she said.
Since the signs of a heart attack differ
between men and women, a large part of
her campaign focuses on raising awareness
of these signals. She said that unlike
men, women sometimes experience pain
under their tongue or in their stomach.
She encourages women to make a healthy
diet and fi tness routine priorities in their
lives. “It’s a woman’s tendency to take care
of everyone else fi rst,” she said. “You need to
take the time to take care of yourself.”
No matter what the challenge, Mary
Duprey has found new ways to harness
her zeal for exercise, leading to success
as an athlete and inspiration to others.
Shannon Brescher Shea (shannonbshea@
gmail.com) is a freelance writer with a focus on
environmental issues. She recently graduated
with her master’s degree from Oxford University.
She enjoys biking, hiking, rock climbing
and running.
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