By David Harry
Staff Writer

Completing the three portions of the Tri for a Cure is getting to be a habit for women in the Allen family of South Portland.
Ashley Allen, 21, said the beginning of the triathlon near Southern Maine Community College is the most memorable.
“It is very emotional, everyone in the place is crying,” she said.
Ceremonies start with cancer survivors who talk about their experiences before they hit the water for the 1/3-mile swim near Spring Point Ledge Light.
The fourth annual Tri for a Cure will begin with the swim 10 a.m. Sunday. The annual fundraiser for the Maine Cancer Foundation is expected to raise $1 million for cancer research with 1,100 women participating, said foundation Executive Director Tara Hill.
Some women run, swim or ride in teams. Three generations and six members of Melissa Allen’s family will individually swim, ride 15 miles along streets in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth, and run the three-mile course by the SMCC campus and Bug Light Park.
Allen, a swimmer from an athletic family, decided to compete after watching the first triathlon four years ago. She said eliminating cancer is the reason she participates.
“I would not do a triathlon for any other reason, ever,” she said.
She also decided she would not take on the challenge alone and enlisted her mother, Standish resident Ann McDonough.
“She did a little arm-twisting,” said McDonough, 73.
McDonough said she began running nearly 30 years ago and won a marathon at age 60. Running is now the most challenging part of the triathlon, McDonough said.
“My joints have been tested a long time,” she said.
Three years ago, Ashley Allen said she decided to join her mother and grandmother, while her sisters, Amanda and Amy Allen, volunteered at the triathlon site.
A year later, it was off the sidelines and onto the course for Ashley and Amy Allen. This year their cousin, Meaghan Morris, will travel from her home in Virginia to participate.
“It’s kind of a family tradition at this point,” said Amanda Allen, 24.
Amanda Allen has run the Boston Marathon to raise money for cancer research, but said the hardest part of Tri for a Cure is getting off the bicycle and starting the run.
“When you first get off the bike, you are wobbling. You always feel like you are running funny in a triathlon.”
Family participation has taken on deeper meaning because of the death of Chuck Harvey, a family friend who died from pancreatic cancer, Ashley Allen said.
Harvey’s wife, Whitney, takes on Tri for a Cure each year, and Melissa Allen said it creates a closeness that makes the triathlon all the more special.
“What I gain is camaraderie and women doing good things in the world,” she said. “It is just a spirit that lifts you.”
Race director Julie Marchese urges spectators, friends and families to get to the campus early and be aware there is no parking at SMCC for the triathlon. There will be partial and full street closures along the triathlon route in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.
For more information about the triathlon route, visit the Tri for a Cure website at tfac2011.kintera.org, southportland.org or capeelizabeth.com.