The Pittsburgh Triathlon Club is the best!! Principles make it so. Confused as to why? Allow me to fill you in. When a small group of us got together and started the PTC, the basis for it was unanimous; an entity that supported athletes within the multisport arena in and around Pittsburgh. As I remember looking at everyone in the coffee shop that day, I saw abilities that ranged from no experience to over 4 years competing. The 2nd official meeting I saw more newbies with no experience and added tenured Ironman Kona competitors to the group. As the months went on, we repeatedly increased in all aspects of membership, the reason was simple. The PTC was based on the principle that helping each other would help our sport and would lead to bigger and better things for everyone.
Do you remember the people who didn’t believe? The ones that ignored us and chose to alienate themselves? It didn’t matter, we reached out to everyone and kept our hand out, knowing this was the right thing to do, the possibilities were endless, the benefits astronomical and potential was limitless. How about the support from local and national businesses? Myself, Chad and Sean would beat down doors to get our name out there and find that much needed support. Thank you to BikeTek, Fleet Feet, Steel City Endurance, Coach Chad Multisport, Fuel Your Passion, The Athlete’s Eutopia, Over the Bar Bicycle Café, Eckerd Siemans, Rudy Project, XTerra, EGel and Beaker Concepts for taking a chance on the unknown group. Or how about those first PTC kits we got? I still wear mine...proudly!!
This group is not without its serious athletes. (pay close attention to this part) I mentioned Chad Holderbaum, he has qualified for Kona countless times by going 2nd at Placid, and AZ and now I see he won overall at Musselman, how about the top 5 performance (Elite) at St. Anthony’s, Eagleman…the list goes on and on. Kim Schwabenbauer, first amateur woman in at Cozumel, top 10 at New Orleans, Eagleman, St. Croix and more. Beth Shutt – huge wins at WV, Eagleman, Cedar Point, etc etc. Ill just keep naming, Chris Nocera, The Cornmans, Matt Mauclair, Chris Rotelli, Seriously I could name drop for paragraphs, but that is not purpose of talking about them. What do all of these people have in common? They all give freely to the PTC. They help whenever they can. They support the club by giving talks, taking leadership roles, helping out at events and most importantly – they take others under their wing at races to make sure their club members are ready to go. PRINCIPLES!!! Selfless!!! We all know they are fast, hell they themselves know they are fast, but rather than act like tri-snobs and be pretentious, they give back.
All of what I write is known so why go into it when the majority of people that read this are PTC members anyway? Because it bugs me and- this is my blog damnit! Oh and maybe… I MISS YOU GUYS!!! I miss my training crew – James Wrubel, Sean McBurney & Chris Rotelli. (except running and riding hills with Chris. “If you sing again, I will stab you”) I miss people like Sarah putting OWS together on Friday nights and going to get dinner after with Nikki and Bergin as we all smell like the Allegheny. How about the drills and free clinic that Suzanne Atkinson puts on prior and then swims with everyone just because she enjoys it! I miss walking into BikeTek, getting greeted by Franklin and bullshitting with Frank and Angelo. They put themselves out there for me from the start and took great care of the PTC. I miss Tuesday night Crit races and watching Lee-Ann blow kisses as she destroys the entire pack and getting to ride that same oval on Thursdays chasing Chad until I puke. I miss figuring out the world’s problems according to Ryan with Ken after masters.
There is very little of that here. I ride alone a lot and when I see other triathletes I wave but get nothing back. I run and see guys or girls in tri kits and will say hi and try to see where they train or who with…but nothing back. The groups have no continuity and the discounts…yeah not even close. I shouldn’t be surprised. When I arrived here I was fortunate enough to talk to someone who let me in on the scene and pretty much told me all of this. The problem though, I have trouble accepting it. I haven’t met a single person here who could take any of the elite’s in Pittsburgh, so I have to ask: Why so serious? You gain nothing and lose so much.
My advice to PTCers, don’t take what you have for granted. Step up and continue to give back, continue to grow what you have. People like the ones mentioned above and others that give night and day like Jill Schapiro are rare, and Pittsburgh is lucky to have all of you!!!
Angelo told me numerous times that the PTC was unlike any other triathlon club he had ever known. I was proud of that and even prouder to see it continue. Bravo!! So Im thinking about changing it up down here. A prior mentor of mine told me if I didn’t like something, change it. Hmm, considering launching something big, something Atlanta has never seen and something that will bring that camaraderie back to the sport I love here in the Atlanta. There are triathletes everywhere, why are we not working together? Race day is race day, go hard and reach your goals, but wouldn’t it be nice to do this with the help and support of others?
I have some friends here at The Sports Factory, North Atlanta Multisport Club, Endurance Concepts and The Atlanta Tri Club. Im thinking this is a great start and a fantastic group to get things going!! Beware Atlanta multisport athletes, you may just find yourselves becoming a part of something bigger…
Excellent post, Ryan. The PTC misses you, and Atlanta has gotten the biggest gift they will ever get in multisport. So many people here, myself included, only gained the confidence to TRY to Tri because of the PTC mentality and principles.
ReplyDeleteGive it to Georgia athletes, too - they deserve to feel like we do here.