A cancer survivor is ready for Phila. Triathlon

In March 2009, Kevin Romano was diagnosed with brain cancer. The diagnosis meant that the 37-year-old Warrington resident and high-school teacher had to forgo plans to compete in that June's Philadelphia Triathlon.

He had been training for the three-part event - a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike race and a 10-kilometer run - for a long time.

"I asked my doctor if I could run," Romano recalled, "I told him this is what I've been shooting for. He said I would have to defer my plans. My cancer was Stage 3."

But Romano, who played soccer in high school and had a 15-year stint as a lifeguard in Avalon, N.J., was determined that he was going to compete in the triathlon even though he might have to put it off for a year.

The year passed and Sunday the Neshaminy High social-studies and world-history teacher will line up with more than 2,500 athletes to compete in this year's Philadelphia Triathlon, which starts with the swim on the Schuylkill beginning at 6:55 a.m. at St. Joseph's Boathouse.

The field for the race includes a number of the world's top triathletes, including three-time Philadelphia Triathlon women's winner Rebeccah Wessner, three-time men's winner David Thompson, 2008 Olympic triathlete Matt Reed, and two-time Olympic triathlon medalist Bevan Docherty.

Sunday's race concludes a weekend of related activities. On Saturday, there is a sprint distance triathlon (swimming, bicycle and running events at roughly half the distance of the full triathlon) with 1,500 competitors, and a fun run and duathlons for children 14-and-under. The sprint triathlon starts at 7:30 a.m. The fun runs and duathlons will start at 1 p.m.

Twenty teenage boys from the Cadence Cycling Foundation, part of a pilot program for inner-city youth in North Philadelphia will compete in Saturday's sprint triathlon for the first time.