Profile

Hillary Biscay is the most prolific iron-distance competitor on the professional women’s racing circuit. In 2006, she set a standard in Ironman racing by becoming the first person to record six top-five Ironman finishes in one season. Hillary set another precedent in 2008 by winning her first ironman title at Ironman Wisconsin in a unique fashion: this was her eighth iron-distance race of the year, just one week after she placed fourth at Ironman Louisville. Additionally, this “double” followed just a few weeks after her first one, when she became the first professional woman to complete back-to-back iron-distance events. In that instance, she finished sixth at the Quelle Challenge Roth (Germany), and then followed this performance just a week later with a third-place finish at Ironman Lake Placid, after holding the overall lead of the race for over nine hours.

Having competed in the 2000 US Olympic Swimming Trials (200-meter breaststroke), Hillary is also known for her swimming prowess, and often leads out Ironman swims. She was the women’s swim winner at the 2008 Hawaii Ironman World Championships.

Hillary competed as an age-group triathlete for four years before turning pro. During this time, she was teaching at the University of Southern California and working on a Ph.D. in American Literature. She put this degree on hold to try to turn her triathlon hobby into a livelihood and hasn’t looked back!

Hillary also spent three years under the tutelage of Brett Sutton (Team TBB), and credits what she learned as part of his squad for much of her success.

Date of Birth: June 13, 1978
Hometown: Palos Verdes Estates, California
Resides: Tucson, Arizona

Career Highlights: 2008 Ironman Wisconsin Champion, 5x 2nd-place iron-distance finishes, 23x top-5 iron-distance finishes, 15x iron-distance podium (top-3) finishes

Education: B.A. English with Honors, M.A. English, University of Southern California

Family: Parents, Dr. Rich and Brooke Biscay, of Palos Verdes Estates, and younger sister, Cameron, an attorney

Hobbies: Running ultramarathons and coaching age-group triathletes

Coach: Dr. Brent Lorenzen, a.k.a. “Muffin”

Favorite Workouts: The treadmill marathon and racing an Ironman

Inspirations: Numerous Olympic-medalist and world-record-holding swimmers who were my teammates at USC; Stephanie Green, ultramarathoner extraordinaire and the original ironwoman in my world; my cousins–former U.S. Navy SEALS–Greg and Ted Muhlner