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When 10-year-old Adam Wolf of Lutz won the overall title in the 2005 Mad Beach Triathlon 7 to 10-year-old race, his coach was very proud. He wondered if coaching might be better than competing, at least this year. When Bo Webster grew up in Ellwood City, PA, triathlon was not an option, not even a twinkle in someone’s eye. At age 10, Bo, Bobby then, was fascinated by astronomy and got his physical kicks from pickup games of tackle football, team backyard black walnut battles and evening games of Mississippi and team hide and go seek. The local swimming pool hadn’t been built. He had a red Schwinn but used it infrequently for about a year due to Ellwood’s hills before dismounting for 27 years. Bobby polished his football skills under the tutelage of Chuck Knox, who later became coach of the Seahawks and L. A. Rams. His junior year he was second string quarterback, just as Joe Namath had been the year before at conference rival Beaver Falls. His senior year, while self-christening himself Bo, he made All Western PA honorable mention and signed to a scholarship at Tulane as a halfback after an injury had resulted in a switch from quarterback. This difference from Joe magnified when Joe was named All American at Alabama his sophomore year and Bo had transferred to Cornell to study Chemical Engineering. Bo opted for track and field there, hurdling in the Penn Relays and throwing the javelin (isn’t that a bike?) rather than holding dummies at football practice during an ineligible year. A year before graduating, Bo had his first back operation. He squeezed a short rugby career in before it ended with a second laminectomy in 1969. Part of his rehab was swimming up 1000 yards 3 times a week per Ken Cooper’s “Aerobics” equivalent of running 1.5 miles 3 times per week. A future triathlete was born. Bo moved to Tampa in 1974, his daughter was born that fall, and played a lot of tennis. In December of 1978, the year his son was born, he received an MBA at USF. At this time tennis buddy, Bruce Rasemont, who now is a spin instructor at Lifestyles, talked Bo into training for the second Gasparilla 15K. Shortly after Gasparilla local physician Frank Pidalla talked Bo, Bruce and another running partner, Ray Peal, into training for a marathon. The triathlon body was being built; the problem was “no triathlons”. When Bo read the first Ironman article in a Sports Illustrated that Bruce had brought to the beach, he thought that was pretty cool and wasn’t intimidated by the distances. His first triathlon was in Winter Haven in 1981 using a borrowed bike. He did every triathlon he could find in central Florida, which was about two in 1981. He did a Half Ironman in Savannah in 1982, six weeks after a pickup truck’s side mirror broke three ribs and sent him to the ground for a broken finger and head cuts. The highlight of this race was passing Fred Rzymek (publisher of RacePlace) and Tom Warren on the run. Webster says Fred and Tom have beaten me more than the other way around since then. In 1987, he qualified for Hawaii at the same Savannah Half going on to a 12:45 finish. His daughter accompanied him to Hawaii and celebrated her 13th birthday atop Mauna Kea. “Let’s drive up there even if the rental agreement says to stay off the Saddle Road.” In 1989 he raced Lance Armstrong twice, but that is another story. In 1999, aging up to 55, Bo enlisted the coaching of Cyle Sage, 1998 and 1999 USOC Developmental Coach of the Year for Triathlon. Cyle gave him a boost and he qualified for World’s in 2000 in Perth, Australia. He toured Australia and New Zealand with his son for a month following the race including a spectacular triathlon in Byron Bay (Australia’s easternmost point). In 2003, he qualified for the 2004 World’s to be held in Madeira Island (not Beach), Portugal. Bo had a dream year in 2004. He placed fourth in his age group at St Anthony’s. He placed 19th of 42 in the 60 to 64’s at Madeira World’s on a borrowed bike (again) on a bike course that started up at about 6% for 3 miles, visited Barcelona, Girona (saw Lance, maybe), Florence, Rome and Athens. “If you get to Europe and climbing Kilimanjaro, a short step to the south, is on your list”, Bo says, “then go for it”. Bo reached the top at 19,340’ on May 27. RAGBRAI is a 10,000-rider bike ride across Iowa. While many riders dipped their wheels in the boundary Missouri and Mississippi (there’s that word again) Rivers, Bo swam across them. In September he finished 7th in age group at Nationals in Shreveport. In October he won the 60 to 64 age group championship in the Florida State Road Race. This biking championship required verbal as well as physical skills. Still training fairly hard with no upcoming races, Bo began to experience pain, stiffness and soreness in his shoulders, wrists and hips. After drastically cutting back on the training with no relief, he was diagnosed by Zephyrhills rheumatologist, and cyclist, David Sikes with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR). This, one of over 100 arthritic disorders, for unknown reasons, attacks those over 50 and women twice as often as men. He has decided to take the year off from competition since the typical course of PMR is 3 years and the minimum is about one year. He’s feeling quite well on medication and increasing his daily, doctor recommended workouts to one hour from half an hour of light aerobic exercise. Bo was certified as a Level 2 USAT coach in 2003 and is currently looking to take on new clients of all abilities and ages. Contact him at 813-453-0054 or bo22244@aol.com.
PS : Bo has recovered from PMR and competed for Team USA at World Championships in Honolulu (2005) and Lausanne (2006). He still has plenty of time for new clients.
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