Simon Lessing, of Boulder, Colo., will be one of the big names at the Ironman 70.3 Kansas race June 15 in Douglas County. As a triathlete, Lessing is a five-time world champion and one-time Olympian.

Simon Lessing, of Boulder, Colo., is a champion triathlete and Olympian who will be competing in Ironman 70.3 Kansas in June.

Simon Lessing is one of sports’ most distinguished athletes.

The triathlete picked it up as a child in South Africa, competed for the British under his dual citizenship and now lives in the United States. He swims, bikes and runs in competitions all over the globe.

But Lessing, 37, has never been to Kansas – at least until this summer. The five-time world champion and one-time Olympian will help highlight the professional field of the first Ironman 70.3 Kansas race June 15 in Douglas County.

“My plan this year was to do some different races that I’ve typically not done,” said Lessing, who lives and is working on a triathlon coaching business in Boulder, Colo.

The first Kansas race is expected to attract up to 1,500 athletes, including professionals like Lessing, Craig Alexander and Samantha McGlone, who will compete for a $25,000 purse.

“We’re honored to have an athlete of Simon’s caliber to participate in the inaugural year,” said Ryan Robinson, a Lawrence resident, co-director of the event and friend of Lessing.

Lessing’s rise to the top of the sport spreads across several continents, including at an early age when he lived in South Africa where the mild climate made biking, running and swimming a norm.

“Sport and outdoor activities were just a very common environment to grow up in,” he said.

He also was glad to find a new sport other than surfing or rugby, calling single sports “monotonous.”

A critic of Apartheid and the mandatory two years of military service, Lessing left South Africa when he was 18 to move to Great Britain, where he was a dual citizen because his mother was born there.

The move also meant he could compete internationally for the United Kingdom as a triathlete, which caused his career to take off, including five World Championships and a 2000 Olympics appearance in Sydney.

One Lawrence resident and retired triathlete competed against Lessing in North American races in the early 1990s, and he remembers watching Lessing “revolutionize the sport.”

“He really was the first triathlete who was really an elite-level runner. We could see it coming,” said Clark Campbell, Kansas University’s women’s swimming and diving coach.

Campbell said Lessing’s career is also a great tribute to his skill and preparation.

“Anybody who has a long career in this thing loves what they do,” Campbell said. “Mentally they’re able to go and do what it takes every day. You’ve just got to be able to enjoy it.”

Lessing said he’s been blessed not to have any major injuries, and as he nears 40 he’s happy to reflect on both his and the sport’s success.

“What’s nice is I can see how the sports of triathlon on a whole is evolving and how popular it is getting,” he said.

In October, Lessing earned his U.S. citizenship. He and his wife, Lisa, originally from Virginia, have two daughters, Amelie and Karla.

He said more amateurs are looking to the sport as a way to attain physical fitness as opposed to the past where the competition was the main attraction.

“I think the people who are attracted to the sport are definitely health conscious and looking more for a lifestyle as opposed to trying to race,” he said.

Lessing cherishes the opportunity he’s had to travel the world and meet athletes and friends, but he’s also glad to try out the new course in Kansas and to help it thrive on the Ironman circuit.

“It’s something new at every event you do, and it doesn’t matter how long you’ve done it for,” he said.

But once he toes the starting line at Clinton Lake on June 15, Lessing also knows the competitive juices will start to flow, just like they do every time, even as he nears the end of his career.

“The bottom line is when I’m out there on a race course,” he said, “it’s almost second nature.”