Announcing the newest addition to the team of Pharmanex Champions

Elena Felin, 26, was born in Kerava, Finland about 30 kilometers north of the capitol city Helsinki. Living in a small town required her to take the train into Helsinki each day to attend school. The third child of nine, Elena was always running late. Because the train never waited, she would race her bicycle down the dirt roads of town to catch the train. Most mornings she rode so hard she could "taste the blood in the back of [her] throat."

Because Elena's father encouraged cultural pursuits and valued diverse experiences, Elena learned to play the violin and is a talented painter. Elena's family lived in Germany, Sweden and United States, becoming fluent in the languages of all three countries. She has lived in the United States since 1995 and is pursuing a master's degree in dietetics with an emphasis in sports nutrition at the University of Utah. She currently works as a research assistant at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Foods and Nutrition department doing research on optimum water requirements in healthy adults.

After taking a mountain biking class in college she was encouraged by some male classmates to compete in a local race. Through the experience she not only found she could climb lung-bursting hills without tiring but that she was fearless going back down. She realized this set her apart from the other riders and she decided to get serious. She quickly moved up to the pro/expert class where she won her first race. Since then she has won every Intermountain Cup Race she entered when her equipment held together. Even when it didn't she finished in the top three, sometimes running across the finish line carrying her bike. In 2002 she was named the Intermountain Women's Cross-Country Mountain Biking Champion and voted Utah female mountain biker of the year 2002.

As an endurance athlete, Elena says she is "always looking for an edge." She heard about supplements that enhance performance, like CordyMax, but says "getting my degree in nutrition and taking numerous science classes has made me a healthy skeptic." After meeting with a Pharmanex Senior Scientist and hearing him back up all the Pharmanex products with solid research and unambiguous science convinced her that this was not just another supplement company based on 'maybe's' or unrealistic promises.

Elena is currently training, racing and pushing for the Finish 2004 Olympic team. Let's cheer her on as she pedals over the river and through the woods to her Olympic dream.