All-women’s triathlons have been one of the most powerful engines driving up the numbers as the sport of triathlon experiences runaway growth. Part of the allure is that camaraderie factor as women cheer one another to have the best, most life affirming experience they can, free from the intimidation factor whenever men are in the mix.

Iron Girl, the fastest growing all-women’s multisport series, is debuting the new, exciting triathlon Saturday at Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. In a welcome throwback to the very first all-women’s events that often drew world class competitors to race with the newcomers, the Aflac Iron Girl Lake Las Vegas promoters have drawn a magnificent field of professionals to race an Olympic-distance event for a $15,000 purse and share the joy and camaraderie of triathlon with an anticipated field of 1,000 women taking on the challenge of a sprint-distance triathlon.

“My very first triathlon was an all-women’s race,” said two-time ITU short course world champion and 1995 Ironman Hawaii champion Karen Smyers. “Races like this have a very different ambience and many women who have entered the sport through them might never have done so in a co-ed race. Races like this make women more relaxed and less intimidated. All-women’s races celebrate people who get out there and do the best they can with what they’ve got. They focus more on support for one another and fun rather than winning or performing.”

Which is not to say that Smyers won’t be very competitive taking on 2006 Ironman 70.3 world champion Samantha McGlone, 2007 Ironman 70.3 world champion Mirinda Carfrae and St. Anthony’s and Wildflower champion Becky Lavelle for the $6,000 top prize on the challenging course not far from the famed Las Vegas strip.

“To be honest the weekend in Las Vegas was the clincher that drew me here,” said McGlone, whose debut second place finish at Ironman Hawaii last year was one of the highlights in an outstanding young career. “I’ve never been and I intend to have some fun after we finish the race. But once the gun goes off, I’ll be very competitive for the next two hours. We’ll all fight it out, then hang out together and have fun after the race.”

Longtime Ironman 70.3 and Olympic distance rival Mirinda Carfrae shared those sentiments. “Oh, we will definitely be after one another hammer and tong for two hours, and then we will party,” said Carfrae. “All in all, I think Iron Girl is a great concept for beginner triathletes. It’s so much less stress than going to a big triathlon like Chicago or Los Angeles. It puts the fun first and it’s a great introduction to the sport.”

Becky Lavelle says the Iron Girl series draws women to the sport throughout the year. “It makes everyone more enthusiastic,” she said. “I really enjoy meeting the newcomers and sharing my enthusiasm for the sport.” Lavelle also says that this Olympic distance race is a perfect tune-up for her Olympic Trials race next weekend in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

One of the happiest women in the field is Laurel Wassner, 32, of Hoboken, New Jersey, sister of elite pro Rebeccah Wassner. Laurel is making her pro debut nine years after surviving a bout with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and was the first cancer survivor in the U.S. to earn a professional triathlon license. “Last year my sister and I went to see the Iron Girls race in Columbia, Maryland, not far from our family’s home in Gaithersburg. “I was so impressed,” said Laurel Wassner. “It was run so well and I loved seeing so many women of all ages and abilities having fun together. I saw a daughter, mother and grandmother all race together and I loved the whole spirit of the event.”

Wassner emerged from an excruciating five years of exhaustion, uncertainty after a debilitating process of chemotherapy. But just a few years ago, she got a clean bill of health. “When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in 1999, I was on the George Washington University swim team with Jessi Stensland and psyched to start triathlon. But when I was diagnosed, I was sidelined for several years. Mentally and physically, it was the worst feeling. For three years, I felt like I was nauseated and 100 times more tired than I had ever felt before. But when I started to feel better, I did one triathlon in 2005, then a few more. The turning point for me came in 2006 when I went with my sister to the world championship in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was bigger than any triathlon I had seen before and just really made me want to race. Right after that, I got word from my doctors at the Sloan Kettering cancer institute in New York that I was officially dismissed from treatment. Right then I started training with my sister Rebecca. Some of her hard work and drive mist have rubbed off on me, because last year I won The Nation’s Triathlon in D.C. It was the best day of my life – I ran my best ever 10k – 37:15 – which took me past my old college (George Washington).” Later that year, Laurel Wassner took third overall elite amateur at the Nautica New York City Triathlon and second overall amateur at the US Open in Dallas.”