Tanner Elliot
The Paw Print
The Triathlete is a unique athlete, unlike any other. He does not just have to push through the grueling pain of one endurance event, but three. In a single competition, the triathlete has to cover distances of 500 meters on the swim, forty kilometers on the bike, and ten kilometers on the run, with very short transition periods between each event. The triathlon event has been the newest addition to sports at Adams State University. The event will hopefully attract elite athletes over the next few years to the 7,5000 feet San Luis Valley.
Having an expertise and heavy background in running, Drew Graham will be leading the swimming, biking, and running Grizzlies. Graham is a fifth year senior here at Adams State, hailing from Newcastle, England. He has been around the sport for over ten years and will integrate his expertise of running along with swimming and biking to help develop those under him.
Graham has had a very successful career at Adams State in the sports of Cross-Country and Track. In all, he has brought in sixteen All-Americans and seven national titles for the Grizzlies. He has obtained a national title in practically every distance running event, two national titles in the outdoor 1500m, one in the indoor mile and distance medley relay.
As a freshman, Graham was the sixth man on the national championship Cross-Country squad, and assisted in bringing home one team national championship in the indoor and outdoor track and field championships.
At first, the athletic department had a few coaches lined up to take the position, but all fell through eventually. Initially, Graham has taken the position as a volunteer, but is hoping to start working full- time for the university. He is also an acquaintance with Great Britain’s Olympic Triathlon gold medalist, Alistair Brownlee. He will be integrating some of Brownlee’s training philosophies into the Adams State program.
Another key figure in helping get the program started here at Adam’s is Cody Robson. He is a junior from Athens, Texas who has a swimming background. Along with competing on the team, he will be helping with the swimming aspect of the sport. Cody has swam competitively for fifteen years, as well as running cross-country and track.
“I started doing Triathlons after I stopped swimming here for Adams State my sophomore year,” said Robson, “I was looking for something new to get into and challenge myself so Triathlon was the answer. I am a bit ahead of most in the sport who generally have to work extremely hard at the swim.”
“Recruiting is my main focus at the moment. Ideally, I would like to get about ten incoming freshmen triathletes,” said Graham. “We are in the building up phase currently for the National Championship come April.” The preferable layout for the entirety of the season would be a couple off-road triathlons in the fall and then the ordinary road triathlons in the spring.
The difference in the two is that the off-road triathlons (X-Terra) involve mountain biking rather than road cycling. “The adventure programs rents out mountain bikes, which means the athletes who do not actually own a bike can compete,” said Drew. The team will do three running workouts per week, two interval sessions and one basic long run.
When it comes to biking, they will get on the roads twice a week, with the longest ride getting up to 20 miles at the moment (eventually getting up to forty miles). They will also get into the pool three times a week in Plachy Hall, doing two interval sessions and then one long swim getting up to a kilometer in the water. Eventually, the team will be doing some open water swimming as well as group mountain rides.
“I was pretty burnt out with swimming and after breaking my wrist and getting surgery I decided to switch my focus to triathlons. I knew that there were college teams and a national race so I wanted to take steps to go in that direction. I figured Alamosa would be a utopia for a triathlon team with our high altitude, world-class cross-country team, and with the local terrain that can be utilized for training. I found it much harder to get a team started than I thought, I was the only one really active for the first year, but now that we have a coach he has helped the team grow significantly already,” said Robson.
Running and swimming are often considered the most important of three events, so at the moment the Graham’s goal is to get the guys into shape and work on their swimming form. They meet six times a week at 5:30. “With our budget we intend to travel to races and will hopefully be able to buy a couple of bikes for the team, to help the sport become more accessible.”
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