鐵人三項 富人的運動 When Amateur Ironmen Pay for the Elite Treatment
When Marc Blumencranz had an opportunity to compete in the 2013 Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, he spared no expense in his preparations to go the distance.
當馬克·布魯曼克倫茲(Marc Blumencranz)有機會參加2013年夏威夷凱盧阿-科納的鐵人三項世界錦標賽(Ironman Triathlon World Championships)時，他不惜一切代價去做準備，力求完成比賽。
His outlays for the race — known simply as “Kona” among triathletes — went far beyond a wet suit and a new pair of handlebars for his racing bike. To help acclimate to the Hawaiian heat, he rented a house on Kailua-Kona’s fashionable Ali’i Drive, as well as a block of hotel rooms for the 10 days leading up to the race. He also hired a private chef to prepare his meals, then flew to Hawaii and housed not only his wife and daughter, but also his coach, massage therapist and physical therapist.
爲了這次比賽（鐵人三項運動員們都把這項比賽簡稱爲科納），他可遠不止是購買潛水衣或者給賽車換一對新車把。爲了適應夏威夷的炎熱，他在凱盧阿-科納時髦的阿里大道(Ali’i Drive)租了一個房子，還在比賽開始前10天在酒店裏訂了幾間連在一起的客房。他還僱了一個私人大廚給他做飯，然後飛到夏威夷，把妻子、女兒以及教練、按摩師和理療師安頓到房子裏。
Total estimated cost: $100,000.
他總共花了約10萬美元。
“My first reaction was, ‘You don’t need to do that,’” says Jose L. Lopez of Long Island Tri Coach, based in Mineola, who guided Mr. Blumencranz through the intensive, 10-week buildup to Kona. “I said, ‘I can still train you; I don’t need to be in Hawaii.’ He said, ‘I want you to be there with me.’”
指導布魯曼克倫茲進行科納賽前十週集中訓練的是米尼奧拉長島鐵人三項培訓公司(Long Island Tri Coach)的何塞·L·洛佩斯(Jose L. Lopez)。他說：“我的第一反應是‘你不需要那樣做’。我說：‘我不用去夏威夷，依然可以訓練你。’他說，‘我想讓你和我一起在那裏。’”
Mr. Blumencranz, now 52, is a managing director for BWD, a large, privately held insurance brokerage and wealth-management firm in Plainview, N.Y. But his career success hardly makes him an anomaly in the sport. At events like Kona, it is not hard to find affluent competitors willing and able to put serious dollars behind their long-distance dreams.
52歲的布魯曼克倫茲是紐約州普萊恩維尤市大型私有保險經紀和財產管理公司BWD的總經理。不過，鐵人三項運動中不乏事業成功人士。在科納這樣的賽事上，不難找到富有的參賽者，他們願意也有能力投入巨資追求這個長久的夢想。
A 2015 survey conducted for the World Triathlon Corporation — the Tampa, Fla.-based organizers of Kona and other Ironman races — found that the average annual household income for Ironman participants is $247,000. USA Triathlon, the largest multisport organization in the world, says the average income for all triathletes, including those at shorter distances, is $126,000.
科納等鐵人三項比賽的主辦方是佛羅里達州坦帕市的世界鐵人公司(World Triathlon Corporation)。2015年，該公司委託進行的一項調查發現，鐵人三項比賽選手的年均家庭收入爲24.7萬美元。美國鐵人(USA Triathlon)是世界上最大的多項戶外運動組織者。該組織稱，鐵人三項比賽選手(包括參加較短距離比賽的選手)的平均收入爲12.6萬美元。
“I don’t know if it’s a rich person’s sport, but it’s certainly an upscale person’s sport,” says Dr. Steven Jonas, a professor of public health at Stony Brook University, a longtime triathlete and the author of the best-selling book “Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals.” “To run a marathon, you need a pair of shoes, a pair of shorts and maybe a water bottle. To do a triathlon, you need a lot more.”
“我不確定它是富人的運動，但它肯定是高消費階層的運動，”斯托尼布魯克大學(Stony Brook University)的公共健康教授史蒂文·喬納斯博士(Steven Jonas)說。他是一名資深鐵人三項運動員，也是暢銷書《普通人的鐵人三項》(Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals)的作者。“跑馬拉松，你需要一雙鞋、一條短褲，或許還需要一個水瓶。而進行鐵人三項，你需要的多得多。”
Free-spending amateur endurance athletes often pay for more than gear. To gain entry to Kona in 2015, Michael Berland, head of the political polling and analytics firm Edelman-Berland, made a winning bid on a charity slot.
揮金如土的業餘耐力運動員往往付出更大代價。爲了參加2015年的科納賽，政治民意調查和分析公司愛德曼-伯蘭(Edelman-Berland)的總裁邁克爾·伯蘭(Michael Berland)在慈善拍賣會上投標，贏得了一個參賽名額。
The Ironman Foundation, the charitable arm of the World Triathlon Corporation, funds a number of local initiatives, including youth organizations in Hawaii. Each year, the foundation auctions four spots in the race.
世界鐵人公司的慈善分支鐵人基金會(The Ironman Foundation)資助一些地方活動，包括夏威夷的青年組織。每年，該基金會拍賣這項賽事的四個名額。
“My wife and I decided this would be our philanthropy for 2015,” says Mr. Berland, 47, who lives in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. To make sure he got in, he made what he called “a pre-emptive bid” of $50,200.
47歲的伯蘭說：“我和妻子認爲這將是我們2015年的慈善事業。”他住在紐約州芒特基斯科。爲了確保能參賽，他採取了“先發制人的出價”方式——直接叫出5.02萬美元的高價。
“It’s what I wanted to do,” Mr. Berland says of his expenditure. “It helps kids in Hawaii, and it got me into the race.”
談起這次出價，伯蘭說：“這是我想做的事。它能幫助夏威夷的孩子們，也能讓我參賽。”
The large portion of successful businesspeople involved in endurance sports isn’t surprising, considering the personality traits they tend to share. These, says Dr. Michael Sachs, a sport psychologist at Temple University, include “high levels of motivation, goal orientation, mental toughness. They also realize that in order to be successful, they need to maintain physical and mental health, and one of the best ways to do that is exercise.”
很多成功的商界人士參加耐力比賽並不令人意外，因爲他們的性格有一些相似之處。坦普爾大學(Temple University)的運動心理學家邁克爾·薩克斯博士(Dr. Michael Sachs)說，他們共有的性格包括“非常積極，目標明確，意志堅定。他們也知道，要想成功，必須保持身心健康，而實現這一點的最佳途徑之一是鍛鍊。”
In addition, he says, there’s a “coolness” factor. “If you’re wearing a Boston Marathon T-shirt or an Ironman finisher’s jacket, those are credentials you can’t buy. You have to earn it.”
他說，還有一個因素是“顯酷”。“波士頓馬拉松的T恤或鐵人三項比賽的完賽上衣是你買不來的榮譽。你必須自己去贏得它。”
Ironman distance triathlons are not the only events that attract Type A endurance athletes. In the last five years, Jeff Adams, 56, a retired Morgan Stanley executive living in Elkhorn, Wis., has run in 20 marathons around the world, including New York, Boston, London, Tokyo and even Antarctica.
長距離鐵人三項比賽不僅吸引一流耐力運動員。在過去5年裏，住在威斯康星州埃爾克霍恩的56歲摩根·斯坦利(Morgan Stanley)退休高管傑夫·亞當斯(Jeff Adams)在世界各地參加了20場馬拉松比賽，包括在紐約、波士頓、倫敦、東京，甚至南極。
Mr. Adams estimates that his pursuit of running and fitness — including the cost of travel to his various races, his gym memberships and so forth — has cost him $50,000 a year over the last five years. But he ticks off what he calls his “return on my running investment,” including improved health, weight loss and the opportunity for adventurous travel.
亞當斯估計，在過去5年裏，他在跑步和健身方面的花費每年高達5萬美元，包括參加各種比賽的旅行費用和健身房會員費等。不過他列舉了“跑步投資的回報”，包括健康改善，體重減輕，有機會進行冒險旅行。
Women, even successful women, are less likely to be found jetting around the globe or spending significant amounts of money in pursuit of their training and racing goals. “I don’t know many women who are high powered and wealthy and who are also endurance athletes who would go to these extremes,” says the former professional triathlete Lee DiPietro, 57, of Delray Beach, Fla., and author of “Against the Wind: An Ironwoman’s Race for Her Family’s Survival.” But she said that could change.
女人，甚至包括成功的女人，不大會像男人那樣爲了訓練或比賽在世界各地旅行或花費巨資。佛羅里達州德爾雷比奇市57歲的前職業鐵人三項運動員李·迪彼得羅(Lee DiPietro)曾出版《逆風：一位鐵人三項女運動員爲了家庭生存而比賽的故事》(Against the Wind: An Ironwoman’s Race for Her Family’s Survival)一書。她說，“我沒見過很多精力充沛、富有、願意挑戰極限的女性耐力運動員。”
For his costly 2013 effort, Mr. Blumencranz dutifully did all his training leading up to Kona, the pinnacle of swim-run-bike sport — a one-day 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon through the island’s torrid, wind-swept lava fields. Qualifying was difficult: Although he had twice completed the Ironman distance race in Lake Placid, N.Y., Mr. Blumencranz is not an elite athlete.
2013年，布魯曼克倫茲爲準備科納鐵人三項比賽花費不菲，他盡心盡力完成賽前訓練。科納賽是游泳—跑步—騎自行車鐵人三項運動的巔峯——一天要遊2.4英里，騎112英里，跑26.2英里，穿過該島酷熱、大風肆虐的熔岩區。要達到要求非常困難：雖然布魯曼克倫茲兩次在紐約州普萊西德湖完成長距離鐵人三項賽，但他不是頂尖運動員。
“I never saw myself doing Kona,” he admitted. Until, that is, a business associate dropped a word to a high-ranking executive with one of the race sponsors. Mr. Blumencranz, who lives in Old Brookville, N.Y., was then offered a Kona spot. He was thunderstruck. “I told my golf friends that, for me, getting the opportunity to race at Kona was like playing Augusta during the Masters.”
布魯曼克倫茲住在紐約州老布魯克維爾。他承認，“我從沒想到自己能去參加科納賽。”直到他的一個生意夥伴給科納賽一個贊助公司的高管捎了句話，所以他得到了科納賽的參賽名額，這令他震驚。“我對一位打高爾夫的朋友說，對我來說，有機會參加科納賽就像有機會參加奧古斯塔的高爾夫大師賽。”
On race day, Oct. 12, with his coach cheering him on, Mr. Blumencranz finished in 13 hours 19 minutes 56 seconds — far from the professional triathlete Frederik Van Lierde’s winning time of 8:12:29, but also comfortably removed from the mandatory cutoff time of 17 hours.
在10月12日的比賽日上，在教練的鼓勵下，布魯曼克倫茲以13小時19分56秒完成比賽，比職業鐵人三項運動員弗雷德裏克·範·利爾德(Frederik Van Lierde)的8小時12分29秒長很多，但是比規定的最長17小時的完賽時間短很多。
He felt that having his friends and support crew on hand made a difference. “It was like having Team Marc there,” said Mr. Blumencranz.
布魯曼克倫茲覺得有朋友和支持團隊在身邊起到了作用。他說：“就像那兒有一個馬克團隊。”
Dr. Jonas applauds Mr. Blumencranz’s generosity and determination in bringing his support team to Kona in 2013, but isn’t sure of its effect. “If he’d spoken to me, I would have told him, ‘you’ll probably finish in about the same time without all that.’”
喬納斯博士讚賞布魯曼克倫茲2013年把支持團隊帶到科納的慷慨和決心，但是對這樣做的效果不太確定。“如果他問過我，我會對他說，‘沒有這些，你的完賽時間可能差不多也是這樣。’”
Besides, money can’t buy the satisfaction of true competition. “You cannot buy a finish,” says Dr. Jonas. “It’s what’s inside you.”
另外，錢買不來真實競賽的滿足感。喬納斯博士說：“你買不來終點線。那要靠你內在的力量。”
