Meet Karen Ponette of BALA Racing in The Woodlands

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Ponette.

Karen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I personally started doing triathlons in 1992. My boyfriend at that time had invited me to watch his brother do a triathlon and I was really inspired watching the race so on the way home I commented “I want to do a triathlon!” to which he responded, “you could never do one of those”.

That was the match that lit the fire! I bought a bike that week, signed up for swim lessons, and I signed up for a sprint triathlon being held 6 weeks later. I did that race and I finished 2nd to last of the entire race! I was exhausted but I was hooked and needless to say, that relationship did not work out 🙂 Fast forward many years and many more races later to about 2009. I joined an area team as a coach and I fell in love with coaching. I have coached professionally since then and in May of 2016, Garreth Speer and I co-founded BALA Racing. BALA means “bullet” in Spanish which was my knick-name in Mexico when I raced short course triathlons and it is also an acronym for “Be Awesome Live Actively”.

This slogan embodies our mission which is to enjoy the sport in a healthy way. We are an all-inclusive club/team that aims to support all types and ability levels of athletes. One of our main goals as far as our coaching service is to share a vast range of experience and knowledge. We want to teach and inspire others in a way that helps them reach their ultimate goals. But we also want to be present at races so we set up as often as we can and we are there to cheer and support our athletes on!

Also providing a home base for families and friends to hang out and participate on the sidelines which can be equally as fun and rewarding. Today, we have coached athletes as far away as France and Mexico! Our hub is The Woodlands and with Ironman Texas literally in our backyard, we expect continued growth and success.

Has it been a smooth road?
I have been a pretty smooth road for us. We have been so lucky to receive support from sponsors and partners including Mobility Chiro Therapy, Specialized Body Works, The Newton Group, Indigo Beam, BikeLane and our biggest and TITLE sponsor Kevin Baker Homes. Thanks to them we have been able to support not only our athletes but other entities such as Team Catapult, a 501c3 non-profit entity that aims to CATAPULT physically challenged individuals over adversity and into the world of endurance sports and athletics. We also held an extremely successful drive for goods needed for people affected by Hurricane Harvey with other area teams that were very successful.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
BALA Racing is dedicated to helping athletes of all levels and abilities reach their goals. We aim to inspire an active and balanced lifestyle through multisport and to keep your body and mind healthy. Whether one is just starting out and wanting to get in shape for a 5k or if they want to push their abilities to the limit and participate in long-distance triathlons, BALA coaches are there to help them meet their goals. Though we aim to improve the performances of our athletes, we also want to promote sport as a healthy lifestyle, working to involve family and friends of our athletes in the sport as well. We feel extremely proud that we do not turn anyone away and that we have athletes ranging from beginner level through elite level.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, there are actually several multi-sport groups in The Woodlands and Greater Houston area. The warm weather year-round helps too! Great place for anyone to start out.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.balaracing.com
• Email: karen@balaracing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bala.racing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karen.pm.165
• Other: BALA Racing Triathlon and Multi-Sport Coaching Services page on Facebook

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