Catching Up With Dave Scott
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Living in Boulder, Colo., legendary Ironman Dave Scott, 57, has become one of the sport’s top coaches and travels the globe giving speeches and clinics about the sport.
Triathlon, essentially, grew up along with Dave Scott. He may not have made much money in those early days – his prize for winning the third-ever Hawaii Ironman was a T-shirt – but he gained lasting fame. Even now, with nearly a million people yearly competing in races of varying lengths and with top pros earning $110,000 for a Hawaii Ironman title, Scott’s accomplishments grow more storied to those immersed in the sport.
But Scott, who will be at the Swimstitute in Rancho Cordova, Calif., on April 30 for an intensive, two-day triathlon clinic, is hardly one to wallow in past glory.
Now living in Boulder, Colo., Scott, 57, has become one of the sport’s top coaches – guiding such pros at Chrissie Wellington and Matty Reed. He also travels the globe giving speeches and clinics about a sport he took up on a whim back in 1976 after graduating from the University of California, Davis.
We recently talked with Scott by phone from Boulder, where he said “I’m just about to crack the whip on 35 (triathletes) in the pool.”
You’ve been called the Babe Ruth of the triathlon. Does that give you pride or just make you feel old?
I am old. When I started this sport, I really had no idea it’d become a bona fide sport and that it’d grow to the extent it has. It reached 72 countries now.
Read More: The Sacramento Bee