A run of inspiration

As the world-record holder among below-the-knee amputee marathon runners, Amy Palmiero-Winters has many admirers. Yesterday in Fairmount Park, and in the waters of the Schuylkill, two of them got the thrill of racing with her in their first triathlon.

Palmiero-Winters, 35, ran, swam and biked with Victoria Cutrone-Foley, 14, and Cate Hughes, 6, for whom she had a special affinity: Each girl was born missing a leg. As a relay team, they competed in the second annual SheROX Philadelphia Triathlon, an all-women's event that provides mentors to first-time racers.

The only physically challenged triathletes in a field of 1,500, the trio finished in 2 hours 28 minutes - not close enough to the winning time of 1:11:58 to bring them any medals. But they were more than fine with that.

"The look on the kids' faces was better than any kind of medal we could have gotten," said Palmiero-Winters, who grew up in Meadville, in western Pennsylvania, and has since moved to Hicksville, on Long Island.

A welder by trade, Palmiero-Winters was drawn there by A Step Ahead, a Hicksville prosthetics and orthotics rehabilitation center that sponsors a team of 75 amputee athletes. She not only competes but also acts as a mentor to the center's youngsters, including Cutrone-Foley, of Massapequa Park, N.Y., and Cate, of Queens, N.Y.

A track and swimming star during high school, Palmiero-Winters suffered a crushed left leg in a motorcycle accident in 1994. Three years later, after 25 surgeries, it had to be amputated from the knee down.

In 2004, although she was five months pregnant and using a prosthesis designed only for walking, she finished second in the physically challenged division in a marathon.

She has been racing ever since, and to enormous success. In 2006, she began using a customized running prosthesis - of carbon graphite, with a tire tread instead of a foot. In May, she finished the Chicago Marathon in 3:04:16, smashing the world record for below-the-knee amputees by 25 minutes. She has since set the world record for the Olympic distance triathlon and won two world championships.

Yesterday, Palmiero-Winters swam a half-mile in the Schuylkill with Cutrone-Foley. She then emerged from the water to bike about 16 miles, before dismounting to run 3.1 miles with Cate.

"The people here were great - they were high-fiving the kids," said Palmiero-Winters, who will return for the Philadelphia Distance Run on Sept. 21.

As Cutrone-Foley reveled in completing her first triathlon, onlookers congratulated her.

"I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it," she said. "But I did."