CONFESSIONS OF AN AGE-GROUPER

BY HOLLY BENNETT

CHEATING IN SPORT IS NEVER OK, BUT A LITTLE SELF-DECEIT CAN ACTUALLY BE PRODUCTIVE.
54 NOVEMBER 2012

THE GOLDEN RULE

My older brother Page recently protested his own win at a mountain bike race. A few guysguys whom Page gapped by several minutescomplained that he couldnt possibly have beaten them. The main protesterlets call him Rustysaid he never saw Page go past. Rusty did admit to being distracted by a flat tire, a fate that waylaid several competitors that day. I imagine he was busy swapping out his tube when my brother blew by. And I should mention that Page handily dropped Rusty on a training ride earlier in the season. Page was positive he had raced fair and square, but the naysayers got the best of him. He began to doubt his own victory. Could he somehow have cut the course, bypassing a turn? He was sure he had not. He also knew he hadnt started earlyone possibility Rusty proposed.

HUNTER KING

Regardless, he turned himself in. He asked the USAC race director to review the results, calling into question his own title. I had a warm, fuzzy feeling of pride as my brother recounted this story. Page is as honest as an Ironman is long. Hes the guy who would gladly ride a race course twice if he thought for a moment that hed cut a corner in error. Im certain that had the ocials found any infraction, whether intentional or not, Page would have willingly handed over his medal, hung his head in shame and banned himself from future competition. Ultimately, the win was upheld. Page, a former varsity lacrosse and soccer star working his way back into shape from a midlife loss of tness, took home his rst victory. The truth is, Page has been improving his cycling naturally, his secret sauce a recipe of steady hard work. Trust me, I know. Following each race I receive a detailed email recap, complete with Pages lead-up training program and an elaborate Excel spreadsheet tracking his progress through the Cat. 3 ranks. There was an 11th, an eighth, a third and nally the rst, all the result of a former athlete re-fanning his competitive ame and getting up o the couch. Let the haters hate and the slowpokes stay slowa cheater Page is not. I found the fact that my brother tried to rat himself out particularly poignant, in light of the dirty controversies that plague so many sports. Honesty and fair sportsmanship are hot topics, for sure. Triathlon seems to maintain a higher degree of integrity in this regard than many mainstream athletic disciplines, yet as much as Id like to bury my head in the sands of naivet, I know that cheating exists in our ranks. Drafting is the most prevalent example, but theres also course-cutting, drug-taking and other bits of blatant rule-bending. On the whole, weve had relatively few athletes busted outright for their indiscretions, especially when compared to a sport such as cycling. And while Id like to think these individuals are the standout bad eggs, Im convinced there are a few rotten swim-bike-runners that remain as of yet undetected. People often assume, because of my involvement in the industry, that I have an inside track as to triathlons dopers and drafters. Because surely the rst person a cheater would conde in would be a journalist with ties to the top media in the sport. Yes, there are a few folks who rue my feathers of suspicion, but I wont name any names. Im a believer in the tenet of innocence until proven guilt. My faith is
56 NOVEMBER 2012

even more rmly vested in the universal rule of karma, wherein the cheaters, sooner or later, will be bitten squarely on their suspiciously toned butts. Trust me, if youre a sports cheat you dont want to speak to me. You wont nd a sympathetic ear. But what I dislike nearly as much as dishonest athletes are the arguments of people who excuse their bad behavior. Its a justication you hear in reference to cycling all the time: Maybe hes a doper, but so is everyone else. In triathlon, people sometimes similarly excuse drafting: Everyone was bunched up in a pack. Whether poor judgment, peer pressure or a group dynamic thats dicult to avoid, wrong is wrongand wrongs en masse certainly dont make a right. If you knew that other athletes in your age group were skipping the swim leg of a race, somehow undetected, WWYD? Please dont answer: a duathlon. The bottom line is this: If you cant reach your goal through honest means, you have no right to claim its reward. But alongside this edict of utter honesty, theres an endurance-sports-specic caveat: Lie to yourself. Thats rightbaldfaced lies will often absolutely serve you best. Fudging the truth is altogether acceptable, for example, when your mind bs to your body to propel it through a rough patch. When your every cell screams Uncle! and when all you want is to crumple to the curb and watch the rest of the race pass you by, then by all means tell a tall tale to your muscles and joints. Conjure your inner Stuart Smalley and convince yourself that you feel fabulous, that your form is awless, that youre good enough, strong enough and doggone it, you can do this thing! Or when youre digging deep to sprint the nal stretch of a 10x100 all-out swim set, tell yourself that your arms feel like Aquamans, not like theyre about to pop o and plummet to the bottom of the pool. We put ourselves through a world of hurt as triathletes. Cloaking that world in little white lies is an A-OK coping mechanism, as long as those lies impact only ones self. But aside from a fantasy-fueled mind/body boost, keep it real and play by the rules. And if ever you question your own honor or need to validate your virtue to others, then snitch on yourself like my brother did. The truth will be revealed, much like a wet white tri suit wearers wiggly bits. Ill get down o of my soapbox now. Its time to stop writing and start foam rolling my ridiculously tight hip exors. Because, as I keep telling myself, it feels so good.