First Timer? No Sweat.

Emily Davis knows that the 48 women who signed up to train for their first triathlon will work their tails off in preparation for the race. She knows that come race day, they will push themselves beyond what they thought was possible.

She also knows that many of them will want to wear shorts that will not make their butts look big.

Davis has competed in several triathlons and owns Fleet Feet, an athletics-apparel store, with her husband, Keith, also a tri-athlete.

When the Davises agreed to help sponsor the Ramblin' Rose Triathlon in Winston-Salem on Aug. 24, they decided they wanted to play an active role in recruiting and training women to compete in the race, especially newcomers to the sport.

"I wanted to do more than give away door prizes," Emily Davis said.

The Ramblin' Rose is one of a series of women-only triathlons in North Carolina that are geared to beginners. Triathlons, which combine swimming, bicycling and running, have different distances. In an Iron Man Triathlon, the most grueling triathlon, a competitor must swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and run 26.2 miles.

The Ramblin' Rose is considered a "super sprint" triathlon with much shorter distances: 250 yards of swimming, nine miles of bicycling and two miles of running.

Steve Lackey, the publisher of Endurance Magazine, started the first Ramblin' Rose in Chapel Hill in 2006 and drew 400 competitors with just a few weeks notice. A year later, a Charlotte race was added.

The races have been a hit. This year, 650 entrants signed up for the Chapel Hill race and 800 entrants for Charlotte. The races, which will be held in October, sold out in late June. Post-race polls indicate that more than half of the women who compete in Ramblin' Rose triathlons are beginners, said Thys Wind, the director of events for the magazine, which is based in Raleigh.

About 250 women have signed up to compete in the Ramblin' Rose Triathlon in Winston-Salem. Participation is limited to 400 women, Wind said.

"The whole spirit of the race is to get to the finish line," Wind said. "You can enter the event and make it competitive personally. We're big on the experience, and we're really big on making it a supportive atmosphere."

To help women reach the finish line, Davis decided to start a training program that would condition women for all three disciplines and teach them the basics of triathlons, such as what to wear and how to make the transition from one event to the next.

She set up a table at the Gateway YWCA and asked women: "Are you interested in doing a triathlon?"

"I can't do that," a few women told her.

"I thought that was funny because a lot of them were walking by with wet heads," Davis said.

She said she expected 20 women to sign up for the program. Instead, she got 48. Their average age is 40, Davis said.

Traci Connor, like many of the women who signed up for the program, said something inside of her nudged her to sign up.

Connor, 38, lives in Winston-Salem, works in Durham, is married and has a 5-year-old daughter.

"I saw the light. I needed to do something for myself. It was time," she said. "I saw the sign for the program and thought, ‘You know, this is something I've always wanted to do.' I kept putting it off and off. This will take away all my excuses."

The six-week program includes a structured training regimen of two group workouts a week, three swim clinics, three group bicycle rides, an overview of the race's logistics, and oodles of support from Davis, who remembers what it's like to be filled with doubt.

A few years ago, Davis watched her husband finish a triathlon and felt inspired. She decided to get back in shape and went for a run.

"I barely lasted five minutes," Davis said. But with her husband's encouragement, she stuck with it and eventually built up to a marathon. She has now completed several triathlons, including an Iron Man.

The "No Men Allowed" rule appealed to many of the women who signed up for the training program.

"What inspired me about this was that it was all women," said Traci Lundy.

Lundy, 43, is a pharmaceutical representative.

"It's so empowering for women to be fit and have goals. And I thought it was a great opportunity to meet new people," she said.

Wind said that the absence of men makes the Ramblin' Rose races less intimidating for women. Women also enjoy the camaraderie.

"Women love to work out together," he said. "There's a social component to this, and that's very obvious on race day. Everybody is cheering each other on. It's an incredible thing to be a part of."

Women also have some specific concerns, such as whether their sports bra matches their clothing, Davis said. Tri-athletes wear the same outfit for all three sports. The clothing is made of fabric that dries quickly.

When Davis showed the women the different styles they could wear during the race, some of the women fussed about outfits that made their bottoms look big or caused their legs to "sausage out."

Davis said she understands such issues. When she competes, she likes to wear waterproof mascara.

But looking good is a secondary concern.

"My goal is for them not to crawl across the finish line, but to finish with a smile on their faces," Davis said.

"I want them to feel like they gave this everything they had and did it right."

■ Lisa O'Donnell can be reached at 727-7420 or at lodonnell@wsjournal.com.

■ The training program has filled up, but there are slots available for the Ramblin' Rose Triathlon. Visit www.endurancemagazine.com/ramblinrose for more information.