Tom Timbol along with five other Dragonflies members test their run-cycle-swim mettle at this weekend's U.S. Open Triathlon

FEAT FOR THE FEET: Dragonflies member Tom Timbol stretches his hams. On Sunday, he’ll run 5 kms., bike 40 kms and swim 800 kms as the U.S. Open Triathlon takes competitors from Cedar Hill to downtown Dallas.

When Tom Timbol turned 40, he and another member from the Turtle Creek Chorale christened their daddy status by becoming marathon men. They both promised to run four 26-mile contests before their 41st birthdays.

That was three years ago, and Timbol now has 18 marathons under his running shoes. His average time is 3 hours, 45 minutes. Over the weekend, he was competing in Chicago when the heat forced the marathon's cancellation (out of the 45,000 participants, 20,000 failed to finish, 320 received medical attention and one runner died).

In June, Timbol heard that Dallas would host the inaugural U.S. Open Triathlon, so he ran the idea by his fellow choir buddies. The idea didn't fly.

Timbol was also a member of Dragonflies, a social group for LGBT Asians.

"I originally hoped for a team of three," Timbol remembers. "But once we started, more got interested."

Six Dragonflies signed up and started pedaling, paddling and kicking up their distance training. Dragonflies is a smaller than TCC. Why the overwhelming response to a triathlon?

"I guess we're more up for the physical challenge. But we also want to challenge the gay Asian stereotype: Ya know, the sort of meek and geeky type. When most people see gay Asians out, they usually see us standing in the back of S4 or in the company of an older white man," Timbol explains.

Timbol believes that image is changing. Up until a few years ago, "The only thing people knew about Dragonflies was the Miss Dragonfly Pageant," Timbol says. "We're now a more proactive social group. And the pageant has since faded away."

The U.S. Open Triathlon is Oct 14. For more information, USopenTriathlon.com and DragonfliesofDallas.org



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 12, 2007