Graduate student Maren York has had anything but the average collegiate athlete experience. 

Spending four years as a University of Colorado Boulder Buffalo, taking a gap year to serve in the Air Force Reserves in the Middle East and coming to the University of Denver to get her master’s degree, York has really done it all. 

Despite the accolades she has won along the way,  like a fourth place finish in the Aquathlon Eliminator against Colorado Mesa, York remains humble and gives thanks to her beginning. 

“Wanting to do triathlon for me, not for anyone or anything else, got me to where I am today,” York said. 

York started her athletic career as a pentathlete, and when the option came for her to continue her athletic endeavors on a collegiate level, it was almost a no brainer for her. 

This led York to the CU Boulder Club Triathlon team. While York was not a trained triathlete, after her first semester on the club team, she was all in. 

“I was hooked. I wanted to train triathlon, I wanted to race, I wanted to see it through,” she explained.

Right out of high school, York began her Air Force training as part of the World Class Athlete Program, an army training program for athletes. The program required her to go to the Peterson Air Force base once a month and spend weeks out of her summer getting sent to various US territories. While this was a tough balance, she says that it only fueled her passion for triathlon. 

“Anytime I got the opportunity to race in anything NCAA, I would always ask them to put me in, and put me in with the Denver girls,” said York.

In Sept. 2020, York was deployed to the Middle East and sent to the United Arab Emirates Base. She took a year off of school and triathlon, uncertain of when she would return to the United States. 

York explained that it was a dream come true for her to do triathlon at the University of Denver, surrounded by a team and coaches who she had admired for so many years prior. 

“Mentally, I know my coaches are going to be on the pool deck, I know my teammates are going to be there, I know that everyone is relying on me and I’m relying on them, and that keeps me going” York explained.

After graduation, York knows already that she wants to give back to the community that has given her so much. She sees herself volunteering or coaching in triathlons down the line, while still keeping up with her own fitness and pursuing long distance races for a change of pace.

“It’s so scary because it [has] been my life for so long, but I know that triathlon will always be part of my life,” said York.