Meet Frazz Cartoonist Jef Mallett at the Chicago Triathlon

Author Packing Two Book Signings and Three Triathlon Races into One Weekend

Boulder, CO, USA - August 25, 2010 - Award-winning and nationally syndicated cartoonist Jef Mallett will test the limits of human endurance this weekend by participating in the Chicago Triathlon Triple Challenge and meeting fans and fellow triathletes at two autographing events. The Triple Challenge features the Fleet Feet Sports Supersprint Triathlon on Saturday and the Sprint and International-distance races on Sunday. Mallett is the creator and cartoonist of the triathlon-friendly Frazz comic strip, which is set in an elementary school and stars a janitor who is a triathlete in his spare time. Mallett will autograph copies of his new book Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete at two events this weekend.

Friday, August 27, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, August 28, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Fleet Feet Sports Booth
Multisport & Fitness Expo
Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave.

Mallett's new book explores the triathlon lifestyle, with which Mallett is all too familiar! With the same humor and insight that readers love in his Frazz comic strip, Mallett delves into the intoxicating subculture of the sport that is three sports. His wide-ranging text and wonderfully insightful illustrations celebrate the necessary rituals and inescapable quandaries of the triathlete.

Peter Sagal, the Chicago-based host of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and a 2009 Chicago Triathlon finisher, describes Trizophrenia as "a funny, heartfelt, serious work of evangelism."

Jef Mallett is the cartoonist of the award-winning and nationally syndicated comic strip Frazz, which runs in over 160 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada and at comics.com/frazz. Jef has published three collections of Frazz illustrations, Frazz 3.14159..., Frazz, Live at Bryson Elementary, and 99 Percent Perspiration. He also illustrated Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer. Jef writes a regular column for Inside Triathlon and Triathlete magazines and is a contributing artist for VeloNews magazine. Jef has been racing triathlons on and off since the early '80s, alternating between triathlon and bike racing. Jef blogs regularly at jefmallett.net.

To schedule interviews with Jef Mallett or host an event, please contact:
Dave Trendler, Marketing and Publicity Manager, VeloPress, (303) 245-2138, dtrendler@competitorgroup.com

The Chicago Triathlon press contact is:
Louise Edwards, Louise Edwards Public Relations, (312) 751-5511, PRLou@aol.com

To order Trizophrenia for retail, please visit velopress.com/shops or contact:
Jen Soulé, Sales Manager, VeloPress, (800) 811-4210 x2169, wholesale@competitorgroup.com

UPDATE: Phil Hersh of the Chicago Tribune profiles Jef Mallett and his very busy weekend!