New Mexico Outlaws

November 19, 2007

The New Mexico Outlaws are a triathlon racing team with a great attitude and some fun nicknames. We talked to their president Brian "Baboo" Pilgrim.

ST: Why Outlaws?

Brian: The Outlaws is the name chosen by team founder Michael Giudicissi. The team was born of the remnants of a disbanded Tri team, Tri Team Southwest. Apparently that club had some internal struggles that made it less than fun. The Outlaws were formed as a small group of friends who trained and raced together and who enjoyed the intangible benefits, such a pride of representation that a team offers. However, nobody was interested in the formal governance or organization that is involved in what you might think of as a true Tri club. We are a somewhat loose affiliation of athletes that come together for special jobs in true outlaw fashion much like the James – Younger Gang.

ST: How old and how large is the Outlaws Tri club?

Brian: The New Mexico Outlaws have been around since 2004 and we now have a little over 50 members. Believe it or not we are the largest actively racing team in our sparsely populated region. Honors of the oldest tri team go to our friends in Tri Club New Mexico.

ST: Would you consider the Outlaws more so a team or more so a club? Or does the distinction not really matter?

Brian: The distinction has never really come up but I think we are more of a team. We call ourselves a team and teams mostly train and compete together whereas I think the term club suggests the availability of greater social and organizational opportunities.

ST: Which races are the Outlaws heavily involved with?

Brian: Our involvement with most races is limited to getting the members out to race. New Mexico and West Texas are very sparsely populated areas and getting just 10 or 15 more people to show up to one of our regional races can be a make or break proposition for the viability of that race. Some of the smaller races we support include the Bottomless Lakes Triathlon in Roswell, NM, the Ransom Canyon and Alpine triathlons in northwest and southwest Texas and a small series of races put on at the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruses, NM. We also do some of our larger races such as the Jay Benson in Albuquerque, the Atomic Man Duathlons in Los Alamos, the Milkman in Dexter and of course the New Mexico Tri Club State Championship race, the Socorro Chili Harvest Triathlon in Socorro, NM. Aside from racing we are also involved in a more direct manner with the Elephant Man Olympic Distance Triathlon in Elephant Butte, NM where we host the aid station at the mid-point of the run.

ST: In addition to racing what are some of the activities offered to club members?

Brian: We have the occasional get-together but the wide disbursement of our team across New Mexico and West Texas makes that difficult to do in an equitable manner. I really think the greatest benefit we offer members is affiliation with a strong group of friendly people. As a team we have a lot of triathlon experience to draw from and that is a valuable commodity to newer members as well as veteran triathletes. We also have a strong tradition of traveling to race together both in and outside our region and it is nice to be able to travel a few hundred miles to a race and know that one of your compadres will be there with you. My favorite example of this benefit is our annual team iron-distance race. The Outlaws try to organize at least one iron-distance race per year where there will be a relatively large group of us who will train and race together. Last year we had two, Arizona and Kentucky. I just finished the Silverman iron-distance triathlon and signed up for it in part because another Outlaw was doing it as his first iron-distance race and I thought he could use some company. That's just the way we are.

ST: What do you do to encourage new members to join?

Brian: We laugh and joke a lot, we have cool uniforms and we hold out the prospect of getting a nickname at no extra charge. Beyond that we really don't try and increase our membership in any systematic way. If you like to race and you don't mind being seen with us then you are welcome.

ST: What makes the Outlaws unique?

Brian: I think that it's our emphasis on friendship or maybe more accurately, fellowship. As a team we are very concerned with maintaining the spirit of lose affiliation on which the team was founded. We have many capable people on the team and there is much that we could accomplish if we were really inclined to do so, however, like any good band of outlaws we are not. We are very serious about being a team of equals, we do not engender in and out groups and we do not provide a forum for people to gain status. We recognize that this may turn some people off but I suppose to be frank, those are the people we are interested in turning off. There is one head cook and bottle washer and for now that is me and all I really do is some basic grunt work, manage the team account, order uniforms, complete paperwork, keep us registered with USAT, the inglorious stuff that most outlaws would shun. People on the team feel free and are free to take the lead on different projects at any time. Team initiatives arise organically from the whims of one or another member and once accomplished dissipate quietly and without fanfare.

ST: How old is the oldest and how old is the youngest member?

Brian: The youngest Outlaw is my son Jon who is 16. The oldest Outlaw, not my son, is also named John and he just aged up to 70 and is one of the friendliest and fiercest competitors you would ever like to meet.

ST: How far away from New Mexico might we encounter Outlaws Tri club members?

Brian: If you mean where does the furthest flung Outlaw live, that would be Southwest Texas. If you mean where you may you encounter an Outlaw racing, well, what's the race furthest in the world from New Mexico? We are a wide ranging bunch.

ST: Anything else we should know about?

Brian: Ok, this is a team secret, or has been, but I will let you in on it. We do organize cross border raids from time to time to see if we can come away with some hardware at other people's local races, you know, act as the unknown spoiler. Of course this is mostly a farce, a running team joke, but it makes for good times to regale teammates with stories of our exploits in foreign territory. ☺

The team website is www.outlawstriathlon.com