Liz Gomez was an asset to our community and our Triathlon.  To honor her committment and spirit, the sprint portion of the Fairmont Triathlon has been named: "The Liz Gomez Memorial Sprint."  Additional photos of Liz and her daughter are available on the History Page.

At the age of 11, Liz Ranney (Gomez) began swimming competitively for Wichita Swim Club.  Throughout the years, Liz Maintained a strong passion for the pool.  Liz would go on to teach swimming at Wall-a-gong, Australia, where she shook hands with Queen Elizabeth, who was there for a visit with Prince Charles and Princess Ann.

After Australia, she moved to Hong Kong where she worked for Project Concern.  She later taught swimming at the European "Y" and worked as a hostess at a bar that catered to American soldiers on the R & R from Vietnam.  The bar had a terrific, all Filipino band called "The Wave," which had already backed the Bee Gees and The Beatles on their tours of Asia.  The trumpet player was Doming Gomez, whom Liz would marry.

After six months in Japan, Liz and Doming came to the United States aboard a Russian freighter and rode a bus from Los Angeles to Wichita.  After a stint in Las Vegas, Doming found work with a polka-waltz-hillbilly band in Minnesota.  They moved to Fairmont, where Liz managed the community swimming pool – the third largest in the state – for twelve years.   

In 1983 she shared her dedication and efforts with an additional project - The Fairmont Triathlon.  Her energy to support and cultivate this event was uncanny. 

Liz’s fight with cancer began when she was thirty-nine.  It ended when she was two months past fifty- three. 

From Her Daughter

The first year that we did the Triathlon, my mom was numbered “303” and I was numbered “302.”  I asked her why she had “MOM” written on her and I was stuck with a lousy number.  She found that to be humorous.  From this point forward she would sign her name “217” instead of “LIZ.”  

The year preceding each Triathlon the Gomez family was sure to save each and every milk jug to recycle and use for the Triathlon.  She would fill each milk jug with water and have it available for the transition stations for people to use to clean the sand and lake water off before moving to the bike portion of the event.  These milk jugs were also used year round at the pool for flotation devices when children were learning to swim.  Funny, this does not seem to be a common practice in this day and age.  It worked great and supported her strong belief in recycling. 

The Fairmont Triathlon was a wonderful part of my mom’s life.  She found it to be a challenge rich in bringing health to the community.  She was proud of this event.  To say that she’d be honored to have her name associated with it would be a tremendous understatement.  Thank you.