I'm generally much too busy to read triathlon forums (contrary to what some of these people think), but a friend at Davis Wheelworks mentioned I was being trashed on Slowtwitch. Here's what's being said:
Steve Sexton is still in college? How old is he?
To answer my own question:
http://www.dailycal.org/...25362/london_calling
"His name is Steve Sexton, a second-year graduate student who originally enrolled at Cal as a swimmer in 2000."
There needs to be age limits on collegiate athletes! Wow. That means he's been in college for 8 years. Not to mention the fact that he's sponsored, etc. I would love to not have to work to support myself in school and still have top of the line gear, including a $200 a month coach.
Maybe I'm just jealous, but shouldn't the playing field be a little more even for collegiate athletes? I think that the full-time students on my team should be able to compete against other students, not semi-pros.
I actually agree that there should be some restrictions on how many times you can compete in collegiate nationals. That's why I imposed NCAA restrictions on myself. I completed four years of collegiate nationals competition in five years--red-shirting in 2006 due to injury. Those are the same elligibility criteria NCAA athletes must meet. There is not an upper bound on age, according to NCAA.
But I completely disagree with any characterization of what I am doing as easy. A PhD in economics is not easy. I have no free time. I train and I study. Thursday night before the Saturday race, I was awake until 12:30AM doing work for my professor.
Second, national team athletes participate in collegiate national events of other sports, and particularly for NCAA sports. Most of these athletes have very well-compensated coaches with their collegiate programs and access to great training and recovery facilities. Having a coach and a time trial bike should not preclude someone from collegiate competition.
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