TimesLeader.com

Commonwealth Medical College students competing in triathlon

Less than one week before The Commonwealth Medical College welcomes its charter class of students, two first-year medical students will compete in the 28th annual Wilkes-Barre Triathlon on Sunday.

This marks TCMC’s first triathlon team in the annual swim, bike, and run race held in the Back Mountain area of Wyoming Valley.

Robert Corey of Pittston, a graduate from the University of Rochester and volunteer placekicking coach at Pittston Area High School, will compete in the 40 kilometer bike race that winds through Harveys Lake, Noxen, Kunkle, Dallas Township, and Jackson Township ending at the bike/run transition at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus in Lehman. Tyler Dowling of Allentown, a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Qualifier, will compete in the 1.5 kilometer swim in Harveys Lake and the challenging 11 kilometer loop that begins and ends at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus.

The Wilkes-Barre Triathlon has served as a qualifying race for the prestigious Hawaii Ironman in 1992, 1993 and 1995 and boasts a roster of world-famous competitors including Lance Armstrong, 1989, seven-time Tour de France Champion.

More than 400 single and relay-team athletes participate in the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon each year.

TCMC will open later this month and expects to enroll 60 medical students and 30 Masters of Biomedical Sciences students. The college has campuses in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport and currently has more than 113 full-time employees and more than 557 clinical faculty members.

For the 2009-10 academic years, students will use temporary facilities on the Lackawanna College campus. For more information, visit www.thecommonwealthmedical.com.