Any proof to this?
Lance Armstrong still holds the olympic course record that he set as a 15 year old in 1987…
1:58:17 by competing in the .6-mile swim, 28-mile bike ride and 6.5-mile run
Any proof to this?
Lance Armstrong still holds the olympic course record that he set as a 15 year old in 1987…
1:58:17 by competing in the .6-mile swim, 28-mile bike ride and 6.5-mile run
Not sure of the Time at Waco but it is probably legitimate. I know he was racing national races agaist pros in 1987 and was extremely competiitive. He was 6th at the then National Championship race for the Sprint Distance in November 1987 in Boca Raton Fl. It is the first time I had ever heard of him. I was warming up in the water for my wave when they announced that the leader on the bike course for the pro’s was a 16 year old from Plano Texas named Lance Armstrong. This was a race that had a competitive field such as Scott Molina and Scott Tinley among others. So in a local race yeah it probably is the real deal.
Just searched and found a news item on the Waco Tribune. It says that after the race he biked back to Plano, TX. Article says 90 miles but that’s easily a 110 mile ride … for a 15-year old … after a record setting olympic … no wonder he is a badass. That is some serious motivation of a 15 year old.
Lance raced the Clermont tri in '84 or '85 as a 15 yr old? I think it was the first Clermont half iron and was a money race. Any Floridians out there know how he finished? I think top 5? Can someone get a hold of Fred, he might still remember. I know, I know, lot’s of question marks with my inquiry but my memory is right in step with the aging process!
I’m looking for the video of him at the National Sprint Champs, and I haven’t found it yet. However, I did come across this interview about going to pro cycling from triathlon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbybA_9UkSQ
There is a video of him in The National Sprint Championship Race. It’s pretty interesting to watch, a lot of neon.
That might be right. That is 1 season before I did my first race. The Waco Triathlon used to be a pretty big race down here, but the last year of the race was sometime around 1992 or so when the Brazos River flooded to near Biblical proportions. Jack Weiss is bringing it back this year, but it is a different location, course, etc.
So, if a race is no longer in existence, I guess you can still hold the course record?
The bike course and run course distances seem right, but I can’t remember what the swim distance was.
I believe that someone else posted, but he did win (or nearly win) Desert Princess Du back in the late 80s or as late as 91 or so. He also won the Sprint National Championships in 89 or the early 90s in Boca Raton, Fl. He’s also got one of the fastest…if not the fastest…time at the River Cities Triathlon in Shreveport, LA.
A friend of mine used to race with Lance when they were 14 or 15 in Plano, and my friend’s dad would sometimes drive the kids to the races doing carpool duty. On one road trip back, the conversation turned to what you want to do when you grow up. Most of the kids, including my friend, had plans to go to college and then move on to the workforce, but not Lance. He told my friend’s dad that he wanted to go pro and just keep racing bikes. To that my friend’s dad replied, “seriously, Lance, you are good, but you have to have a back up plan, you can’t make a living off of racing”.
The quote might not be 100% but its close.
…“seriously, Lance, you are good, but you have to have a back up plan, you can’t make a living off of racing”.
I guess that’s why he returned to racing, he never was able to find a good back up plan.
Here it is:
that is awesome! great find!
perfect! that is what i was looking for!
I have the 1990 Triathlete Mag with him on the cover, “most likely to succeed” issue. I’d say he lived up to that 
Oh, my eyeballs! Way too much hot pink in that clip…
My dad founded and promoted the Athens Triathlon back in the day. He warned the police escort for the bike about the really fast kid…they laughed at him. Lance blew past the cop like, well, Lance.
He was riding one of the first Kestrels at the time. Brought it to my dad to fix (he owned the local shop). Couldn’t get the index shifting right…finally realized Lance had warped the frame. Switched it over to index.
AFAIK, Lance still holds the record for the Athens Tri, too. I would bet there are a lot of records around Texas and surrounding area that he holds.
I broke one of them, so I guess my career is complete. (bike race, not a tri, junior record)
Rebecca
Some how I find that hard to believe you broke one of Lances records
.
The same friend that rode with him when they were younger has some crazy stories about Lance showing up minutes before the start of a race, had been up all night at some type of metal concert, and then proceeds to hand out an ass whipping to everyone
My old roommate grew up in Dallas and entered the YMCA youth triathlon in 7th or 8th grade. My roommate Kyle, got third, and was determined to win the following year. He had beat the 1st and 2nd place winners in the swim, but lost the most time on the bike, so he bought a Bianchi to start training. When he tells the story, he remembers reading the name of the winner and thinking “I know I can beat this Lance Armstrong guy”…
On that note, if he starts doing local triathlons and I place third to Lance, I will be telling that story at the nursing home.
When I lived in Dallas, I always loved the Athens trialthlon. It was a great start to the season, really well run and I could get back to Dallas in time to catch the St. Paddy’s Day madness down on Greenville.
Largest winning margin in junior men’s state road race.
And read the whole screen name.
But believe whatever makes you happy.
Scott Eder was Lance’s manager back then. He gave me the info regarding when and where…and found this on Waco Striders website…
Waco Triathlon Go to the website http://triwaco.org for more info about entering or volunteering. This is from the actual website. I think it is interesting to know that the Striders were the first to host the event. Waco is the home of the first triathlon ever held in the state of Texas. The Waco Striders hosted the event in May 1980 with 24 men and one woman to compete in the Olympic distance at Lake Waco with the staging area at Speegleville Park. The event grew to 500 entries with a waiting list each year. The 12th annual Waco Triathlon was in 1991. That was the last year for the triathlon until the new TriWaco this year. Many triathletes considered the Waco Triathlon the best in Texas. The Waco Triathlon is also known for hosting Lance Armstrong as a 15-year-old recordsetting triathlete in 1987. Armstrong set the Waco Triathlon record of 1:58:17 by competing in the .6-mile swim, 28-mile bike ride and 6.5-mile run. The record was never
approached in the event’s 12-year history.