Triathlete in the News: Scott Brown

In purely competitive triathlon terms, it might be compared to Mark Allen running down Thomas Hellriegel’s 13-minute lead off the bike at Kona in 1995. Or maybe it was more like Massachusetts native Karen Smyers’ similar come-from-11-minutes down slaying of heavily favored Paula Newby-Fraser that same year at Ironman Hawaii. But when trying to explain Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown’s fast-closing, come-from-30-points-behind victory over heavily favored Democrat Martha Coakley to win the late Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat, the triathlon references are not irrelevant to Brown.

When asked to explain just what happened to the New York Times, Brown reached for his experience as a trophy-winning 50-54 age group triathlete and member of the Bay State Triathlon Club.

“I treated this campaign like a sprint triathlon,” Mr. Brown told the New York Times a day after his victory stunned the nation. “You have to be good in everything, 18, 19 hours a day. We were just out there cranking.”

The New York Times article added: “Brown said he lives by what he calls ‘Army values,’ instilled 30 years ago when he joined the Massachusetts National Guard.

“‘The most regimented person I know,” his oldest daughter calls the Republican politician, who abhors disorder while sometimes inviting it with audacious pursuits — whether jumping into frigid lakes at 5 a.m. (for triathlon training) or into a seemingly quixotic Senate race.”

Quickly catching on to the triathlon theme, fellow Massachusetts U.S. Senator (Democrat) John Kerry greeted Brown in Washington with a multisport invitation: ““We’re going to do a triathlon together once my hip is ready,’’ said Senator John F. Kerry, after 2008 Republican Presidential candidate John McCain escorted Brown to Kerry’s office.

Back in September, the Boston.com website started the ball rolling on the triathlon-politics metaphoric connections referring to the Brown campaign:

““Brown may be better off hammering away, and focus on the only poll that matters.

“This should make sense to Brown, who is a pretty good triathlete and was winner in his age group of the 2009 Bay State Championship Race Series (new fact you probably didn't know).

“The person who comes out of the water first isn't the winner. The person who comes off the bike first isn't the winner. The race is won on the run, as any triathlete knows. Often in the final miles.

“Let triathlete Brown run his race.”

Strictly in the political realm, Brown’s win created a firestorm for several reasons. Kennedy, who died last year, held the seat for 47 years, and Massachusetts has not had a Republican senator since Ed Brooke in 1968. But Brown’s win will have ramifications well beyond the Bay State as Democrats head into a perilous 2010 midterm election year, losing with Brown's win over state Attorney General Martha Coakley their filibuster-proof 60 seat Senate majority. The prospects for President Obama’s health-care reform package were put on life support by Brown's victory, as he has pledged to oppose it.

The political reactions were naturally extremely polarized.

MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann served up an over-the-top rant: "In Scott Brown we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, tea-bagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees."

Republican U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, not surprisingly, welcomed the newest Republican to the Senate in glowing terms: “Senator Brown represents, I think, the dreams and the hopes and the frustrations that Americans feel today.’’

Slowtwitch forum regular who signs himself HomerJSimpson offered an inside-the-triathlon-beltway reference to Brown, playing off recent World Triathlon Corporation rules changes: “I wonder. Did he run through the voting booth with all his family?” Followed by “Nope. But he did campaign without a shirt and was therefore disqualified.”

Simpson made a more straightforward reference to Brown in the Slowtwitch Forum: “I met Scott at a Total Immersion Workshop around 1995 and raced many FIRM events with him after that. Scott is a stand up guy and would make a good Senator from Massachusetts.”

The without a shirt reference stemmed from Brown’s interesting background. Back when he was a 22-year-old law student, Brown won Cosmopolitan magazine’s “America’s Sexiest Man” contest in 1982 and posed in the nude for a double page spread in Cosmo, quite similar to Bert Reynolds’ photo in Playgirl. Brown used the money to help pay his tuition and commented, “I’m not ashamed of my body.”

Brown’s family shares his comfort in the spotlight. Daughter Alyssa reached the finals of “American Idol” four years ago, and also starred on the Boston College varsity basketball team.

Brown’s results have been good on many fronts. He whipped Coakley 52% to 47%. More impressive to some hard core triathletes, he finished 31st overall and second of 11 finishers in the 50-54 men’s age group at the May 10, 2009 Hopkinton, Massachusetts sprint triathlon. There he swam 200 meters in 4:44, biked 15 miles in 48:29 and ran 5k in 20:59 for an overall time of 1:16:12 – 2:29 behind 50-54 winner Donald Morse Jr.

In another article, Brown was quoted: “I made All-America this year in triathlon.”