Katie Weller met best friend Julia Tracy after a man ran by them wearing nothing but a Speedo at last year’s Lobsterman Triathlon in Maine. The sight of the ‘absolutely hairy man competing in such a ridiculous outfit’ gave Weller, who had been pacing her 5k run against Tracy in silence for nearly 20 minutes, an excuse to finally talk.
‘I said I was going to run and pace against him instead, and she laughed. We just kept talking, despite the fact that it wasted breath,’ Weller said. But as the finish line loomed ahead, Weller wasn’t sure what to do. Sprint to the finish or stay and keep talking to Tracy?
She decided to sprint. Tracy sped up. As the pair approached the finish, pushing each other to run faster, Weller saw Tracy drop behind.
‘I looked back just in time to see her vomit absolutely everywhere,’ Weller said. ‘She finished the race three seconds behind me with puke dripping down her face, and then I knew we were going to be really good friends.’
Weller, a Boston University freshman, began workouts with Tracy, a sophomore at Northeastern University, the week after the Lobsterman. Both women are members of their college-level triathlon teams.
PICKING UP SPEED
Though not every college student meets her best friend at the finish line of a triathlon race, Weller’s and Tracy’s participation in the sport itself is not an anomaly. In recent years, more and more college students have been participating in triathlons, both in Boston-area colleges and nationwide, despite the financial strain and social sacrifices associated with the sport for college athletes.
‘This year, we had 80 new people sign up for our e-mail list and workout schedule at the beginning of the year,’ said Colin Kipping-Ruane, Secretary of the BU Triathlon Team. ‘Luckily for us, only 20 were ready to compete and travel at the start of the fall season. We never could have brought 80 people to our races!’
Other Boston-area teams have shown similar growth, with Northeastern’s roster jumping from 20 to 40 this year, according to team president and unofficial coach Michael Abbene. Zuzana Trnovcova, founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team, watched as participation rose from just two members to nearly 30 this fall.
The numbers have jumped nationally as well. In 2007, the Collegiate National Championship drew over 1000 participants from 77 colleges, nearly double the 555 athletes and 58 schools who registered in 2005, according to USA Triathlon, which hosts the yearly event.
The triathlon season begins for college teams in the early fall, with races this year for three consecutive weekends in New Jersey, Maie and New York. The BU team placed second overall in their division.
Despite increased participation, the NCAA does not recognize collegiate triathlon teams on the varsity level. As a result, the club teams do not receive much funding besides what colleges are willing to contribute independently.
Abbene says Northeastern helps the team with some travel and lodging expenses for races, but the team can’t afford a full-time coach. To save on trip costs, which can be up to $200 per person, Weller says the 19 BU students at the Lobsterman this fall crammed into two hotel rooms. The wait for showers was so long, she didn’t get a chance to until seven hours after the race.
COSTS AND BENEFITS
For individual athletes, costs are high as well. There are dues to hold a place on a team, generally in the $50 range, fees to register for the races and the cost of the equipment: bikes, wetsuits and running shoes. Getting the right equipment is especially important for speed, and bikes can cost anywhere from $300 to a few thousand dollars. Weller’s parents bought her a $2,000 road bike and pay her entry fees, but for some, financing the sport means spending less on other things.
‘This year I have spent $700 already on triathlons,’ College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Max Metcalfe said. ‘I end up having to pick between things like going to the beach with my friends or doing the Half Ironman. But, doing a race is like going to the beach in itself, so I’m willing.’
In addition to financial strain, athletes often end up sacrificing in their social lives. Their training schedules are so intense that only Kipping-Ruane participates in another extra-curricular: ROTC.
Abbene often spends 15 to 20 hours per week training during the fall season, often working out two times a day. Trnovcova often chooses between sleep and training, without time for much else besides schoolwork, in which she often falls behind. For Weller and Metcalfe, training is an addiction. When they’re not doing it, they’re thinking about it.
Participating in the team provides a ready-made, close-knit social circle, but team members also have other friends in college who don’t get up at 5:30 a.m. or travel for several weekends in a row. Weller, Abbene and Metcalfe have all missed out on parties this fall because of their training and race schedules, something Weller acknowledges can be frustrating.
‘I live with my three best friends, and there are times when they stay up late and I can hear them laughing in the common room, but I have to go to sleep because I have a race in the morning,’ Weller said. ‘I’ve left parties at midnight and not drank at all, because it’s more important to me to feel good when I’m training the next morning.’ Abbene agrees. ‘I was gone for four weekends this fall for races, and my friends love to see me participate when they can,’ he said. But winter means I won’t be getting those mean, ‘Why aren’t you here!’ texts anymore.’
However, according to the competitors, the highs and experience of competing far outweigh the financial and social sacrifices.
At this year’s Lobsterman, Weller experienced a personal victory. During the swim through the dark gray, bitingly cold water, Weller pushed past an ‘elite,’ a professional triathlete who likely has been racing for years. Although the same woman sprinted past her just minutes later on the 5k run, knowing that for those few minutes she was ahead is enough, Weller said, to keep her motivated to train until next year’s race. ‘