Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Winged O

The Olympic Club is a San Francisco institution. It was established in 1860 in San Francisco and during the past 148 years, the Club and its members have been dedicated to the pursuit of amateur athletic excellence. The Olympic Club enjoys the distinction of being America's oldest athletic Club providing facilities, coaching and financial support for amateur athletes in a wide variety of sports. Most famous is the Lakeside Club, home to one of the top golf courses in California and the future host of the 2012 US Open. The downtown Club includes two full-size swimming pools, a running track and indoor courts for every sport imaginable (squash, racquetball, basketball, handball, soccer).

In an era where conventional wisdom and a lot of sponsorship and advertising dollars support the fact that sport is as much of a profession as a Wall Street banker, nurturing and supporting elite amateur athletics seems quaint, something from a bygone era. Becoming a member of The Club doesn't disabuse you of this notion. A quick read of the monthly magazine, The Olympian, underscores the focus on sporting prowess and achievement, but it is far from your average workout facility. There is a strict Clubhouse dress code (jacket and tie, no jeans) and an event list that comprises Fight Night, Crab Feeds and lectures from visiting academic luminaries.

As a competitive triathlete for the past 7 years, I had come across and competed against *Olympians* in their internationally recognized *Winged O* tri-kit. When I returned to San Francisco from London in 2007, I began seeking a new triathlon sponsor and was quickly recruited to the Olympic Club triathlon team. *Recruited* in the amateur sense since there are no signing bonuses or multi-year contracts for my commitment to wearing the Winged O, although the interview process rivaled BGI's in the number of interviewers and the detailed resume questions!

I just completed my first full season racing for the O-Club triathlon team and the season ended on a high note. I won my age-group division at Ironman Arizona in a course record time of 10hrs and 33 minutes. For those unfamiliar with triathlon distances, an Ironman comprises a 2.4mi swim, a 112mi bike ride and a 26.2mi run. Of course, as an amateur athlete my prize for winning the race was non-monetary... a 1st place Lucite trophy, a finisher's medal and finisher's t-shirt but most importantly I won the right to endure the Ironman experience all over again at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii next October.