iron_mike wrote:
watched that yesterday - brilliant! although you'd never call her warm and fuzzy, she really does come across as a sympathetic character.
first, erin is a
sweetheart. you will have no problem being comfortable in erin's company if you are comfortable keeping your own company. i have a lot of affection and respect for the women pros of that era, but i would much rather spend an evening with erin than with just about any of them, because she has more to offer as a person than do most typical pro triathletes.
i think there is something that documentary left out. yes, erin would boycott races that didn't offer equal money. but she went further. back then, you could make a lot of start money. it wasn't that erin was trying to get more money. erin wanted all the women - all her competitors - to have that opportunity. if a race director said, "erin, i'll pay all your travel expenses, and pay you $2,500 to start, and your prize money check will be the same amount as the place you'd have gotten in the men's race," her answer would be, "no, throw all that money into the women's purse and let me earn my money honestly." she was singular in that. no other woman that i know of was as tough and as honest as erin was.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman