Colleen Cannon

[3] Cannon graduated from Auburn University with a degree in health, physical education and recreation with a minor in math.

[3] While swimming for Auburn, she trained with Rowdy Gaines, Bill Forrester, and David McCagg who were later Olympic athletes.

[3] Cannon "unintentionally" competed in her first triathlon in 1981 in Oxford, Maryland, thinking it was a "walkathon" fundraiser.

Despite entering the race on a one-speed cruiser bike with baskets loaded with groceries and taking several picnic stops along the route, she finished second in the women's competition.

[13] In 1992 Cannon had an encounter with a native Hopi Indian tribe where she was told "women will save the planet."