Chaz Ross making waves as triathlete
Published: July 5, 2009
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share this
submitted photo Ron Kaiser leads Chaz Ross during the kayak portion of the Great Island Adventure Triathlon.
submitted photo Triathlon organizer Rick Henrich, center, congratulates Edna Spang and Chaz Ross, winners of the Great Island Adventure Triathlon. Ross won in one hour, 34 minutes.
There are days when his legs are fatigued and his wind is short. The voices of two excited little boys have to push Chaz Ross' body past a point of exhaustion.
As he pushes the two-person stroller on one of his marathon training runs, his 4-year-old twins, Seth and Deegan, scream and shout for their daddy to go faster.
It isn't always an easy request to fulfill during a five-mile jaunt through Union Dale, but the competitor inside him powers his knees higher and quickens his pace.
It's the joy on their faces that drives his desire.
A 32-year-old former standout wrestler from Mountain View, Ross is a dedicated and determined triathlete who competes in running, biking and kayaking. Recently, he captured his third straight title at the Great Island Adventure Triathlon in Lock Haven, pushing his body past its limits with the love and support from his family, and a passion for competition.
"They are my running partners," Ross said with a chuckle about his children, who along with his wife, Corinne, are his biggest fans. "They want to go, and they always make me run the hills. I tell them they are getting bigger and it's getting harder and harder to push them, but they want to go farther. If you don't have the support of your family, you don't have anything. If I don't win, my wife jokes, I can't come home.
"I just love the competition."
Riding the rapids
After a decorated high school career where he twice qualified for the PIAA Class AA wrestling championships and won two matches each year to finish in the top eight, Ross needed a way to feed his competitive spirit.
He turned to mountain biking.
But after five years of grueling workouts and draining races, Ross took a year off. That time away forced him to seek other outlets, and a friend turned him toward kayaking.
Once the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder was able to balance and keep the 20-foot long, 19-inch wide boat afloat while practicing on the choppy waters of Newton Lake, it quickly became his favorite part of a triathlon.
"It's tough," Ross said. "There is a lot to learn. We are in really tippy boats. As time goes on, I'm getting better in the boat.
"It's like riding a pencil."
Having already mastered the biking leg of the triathlon, he needed only to conquer the running.
So he wakes up before dawn on some days, and others he loads up his children, putting in the miles that will help him fight through the intense and exhausting competitions.
"I always tell people, to be good you, only need to put half as much time into it," Ross said. "To win, it takes twice as much time.
"To me, there is no reason to go if you aren't going to compete to win."
Time and money
Being a triathlete puts a strain on one's body, as well as their heart and soul.
It is an event that pushes an athlete's mental strength to the point of surrender.
To excel, practice and training are a necessity.
So too are time and money.
For Ross, his mountain bike for time trials cost $8,500. His personalized kayak and paddle ran him more than $3,000, and he's thrilled that running shoes set him back just around $100.
"You have to spend a lot of money," Ross said. "If I'm going to train as much as I need to train, I'm going to have the best equipment."
He works for Cedar Bicycle fixing bikes at Procter & Gamble, he is also a spokesman for Route 220 Adventure Sales in Towanda, and does his own heating and ventilation installation. But for the most part, Ross depends on his wife's income as a school teacher at Mountain View and sponsors like his friend Dennis Knowlton, who owns a masonry business, and Dr. Gary Latimer of Carbondale Chiropractic.
In return, he has devoted his time to becoming a world class athlete, and a full-time father and inspiration to his children.
"I'm always with my kids," Ross said. "I want to be a good dad and a good husband. I work out at odd times to get my work in. I could compete to try and win Olympic gold, but I'm more proud about being their father. If they weren't happy and I wasn't being supported by them, I wouldn't do it."
Quest to be the best
Desire, dedication and support put Ross back into the athletic spotlight he craved.
His first-place finishes fueled his passion.
"I guess any athlete is an ego-maniac," Ross said. "If you are an athlete and competitor, you hate to lose, and you are always going to hate to lose. Winners compete. Losers make excuses.
"If I win, I lose the high in 24 hours. If I lose, I think about that forever. That's what keeps me training."
At Great Island, the event began at 8 a.m. with a 3.5-mile race against the powerful current of the Susquehanna River. Next, the athletes attacked a 15.5-mile bicycle race on the difficult terrain of a freshly tarred and chipped roadway. And finally, fighting their weary muscles, they ran four miles along the Lock Haven levee Riverwalk.
More than 60 individuals started. Ross finished first in 1 hour, 34 minutes, keeping just enough strength to have his arm raised in victory.
"Like anybody who competes, when the buzzer goes off, the butterflies go away," Ross said. "I go full tilt. It depends on what kind of pain you enjoy. It's going to hurt. If you put the time in and the pain you need to endure during training, the competition pain isn't that bad."
Next up, Ross will be the two-time defending champion at the North Branch Triathlon in Wyalusing this fall.
And he wants to get better.
"I had to buy a new boat and my friend asked me, 'Why do you need a new boat, you are winning'," Ross said. "It isn't good enough to win overall. I want to win everything. I want to win each leg. I was on a training bike ride with a partner, Neil Burke, and he beat me in the final sprint. He asked me if I held back. I told him, I've never held back. I don't ever hold back.
"They get my best."
Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com
Be the first to comment on this article!