Did a tri yesterday. There is a group of about a dozen fellow tri-geeks we hangout with. Some are more serious about tri than others but all are good people to be around. By tradition after each tri the group goes out for a meal and a beer or two. One guy in our group is ultra competitive. He's a regular AG winner in the local area tris but yesterday got his butt kicked and *only* finished second.

Well, he was surley and miserable after the race. When another guy walked up after the race and asked him in a friendly manner how it went he snapped "just leave me alone will ya". At the awards presentation he didn't want to pick up his award because it was *only* for second place. The group went out to a restaurant after the awards presentation and he was just miserable. The woman sitting across the table told him not to be so down on himself because his second place was better than any of the rest of us in the group did. Then the guy beside her said in a good natured joking manner "yeah, but there were only two guys in his age group". It was at that point that I thought he was almost ready to hit the guy.

Most tri winning competitors that I've known have been very modest and helpful people. This guy is not a kid. He's middle aged and should know better. Obviously he has some deeper issues than just not winning a tri. To him winning is everything and just having fun means nothing.

I would imagine there are others like this, but fortunately they're (I assume) fairly rare?