Things will come full circle for Sam and Billy Crozier this weekend in Augusta.
The brothers are in the midst of setting a Guinness World Record for most 70.3 triathlons completed in a 365-day span. They tied the record of 24 last weekend in Seattle and Augusta will be the record breaker.
For the Croziers, the months-long endeavor will return where it all began. Sam competed in the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Augusta in 2009.
“I lived in Augusta and had a friend that introduced me to triathlons,” he said. “I had done my very first sprint and Augusta came out and announced that the half was coming, so I just wanted to see if I could do it. Then, of course, Billy being a good brother wouldn’t let me do that alone. We’re naturally competitive, I guess.”
That competitiveness will become a theme here.
“He did do that first one alone, but when your younger brother does something, you’ve got to figure you can do it, too,” Billy said, laughing.
Not quite to the level of a full Ironman, a 70.3 consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike course and a 13.1 running course. That said, more than enough of a challenge for even the most conditioned athletes — which the Croziers assure they are not.
It’s one thing to compete in races close to home, but traveling around the country to run in races every weekend is a huge undertaking. That competitiveness did, however, leave them wanting more.
“I did my very first full a little over five years ago and after we both did full Ironmen, we wanted to see how far we could push ourselves. We found this record and started planning for it a couple of years ago,” Sam said. “We started in May and we have a race every weekend until the end of Thanksgiving and what does that take mentally, physically, emotionally? It’s been a really interesting challenge.”
The brothers registered with Guinness before they began and the race director at each location fills out paperwork corroborating their participation and completion. That paperwork is then sent to Guinness for verification. While they plan on setting the record in Augusta, they’re going through November.
Like it did with most other sporting events, the COVID-19 pandemic intervened and forced the Croziers to adjust their plans. While they had to change on the fly, it didn’t slow them down one bit.
The original plan had them beginning on Jan. 1 and going all the way to Dec. 31 of this year. With the pandemic, they didn’t actually begin racing every weekend until May, which is also when they hit their biggest obstacle.
The weekend of May 30, the only 70.3 race in the world was Challenge St. Pölten in Austria. Not only did the brothers have to quickly secure a flight to Europe, but Americans weren’t allowed to compete due to COVID regulations.
“You’ve got to go where the races are. That weekend, it was the only 70.3 distance race in the world. We had to go or not race that weekend,” Sam said. “I started researching their COVID exceptions and found a loophole for athletes and we used that to get an invitation from the government to allow us to come into the country.”
To this point, Sam and Billy figure between five and 10 races have been canceled due to COVID or weather-related reasons. One race on the west coast was canceled due to wildfires and another was called due to thunderstorms in the area. If anything, they’ve had to adapt and do so quickly.
“We got the email about the west coast race being canceled on a Monday at 4 p.m. and by 8 o’clock we were already signed up for two more for that weekend,” Billy said. “If a flight gets canceled, you can’t get the right rental car, you’ve just got to adapt.”
What some might call a logistical nightmare has been par for the course for the Croziers. They’ve been traveling around the country every weekend since May and oftentimes that involves racing on a Saturday then jumping on a plane to race on a Sunday.
Sam said in that instance, they’re not usually getting to their next race destination until 2 a.m., so a few hours of sleep in the car until the race starts is all they’ll get. That’s not to mention each weekend of travel can cost more than $1,000, which is all coming out of the brothers’ pockets.
“The logistical part of it is actually more difficult than the athletic part of it,” Sam said.
There were times where it didn’t seem worth it. In August the brothers raced in the Black Diamond Triathlon in Seattle then flew to Arizona the next day for the Mountain Man race. On the bike course in Arizona, Billy had a revelation.
“I was on the bike course and the roads were awful. I was having a tough time,” he said. “The way this course went, you rode 28 miles on this course, then you turned around and rode 28 miles back on the exact same road. Usually when half the course is tough, the other half is easy. It was just as tough coming back, maybe even tougher. I was like, ‘Man, I’m done with this.'”
Getting back to that competitiveness, the thought of Sam finishing without him could not stand.
“There were a couple things that motivated you. First of all, there was no other way to get back to your car other than riding the 28 miles back,” he said. “The main point is that Sam was ahead of me and I can’t just quit when he’s ahead of me. So having each other to motivate us to be able to finish is certainly helpful.”
The Augusta race, in particular, holds a special place in the Croziers’ hearts. Sam now lives in Jacksonville, Fla. and Billy in Watkinsville, Ga., so naturally it’s close to home.
“Augusta has always been a fun race. It has challenges, but the run is maybe my favorite run of any race we’ve ever done,” Sam said. “There are so many opportunities to see everybody and the town is excited for the race to be there. It just makes for such a fun environment and, of course, the finish line is right in the middle of the city. I think I’ve done it six or seven times.”
The Ironman 70.3 Augusta begins Sunday with the swim course at the Sixth Street bridge.
