Matt has been racing triathlon since the age of 22. He was not an athlete growing up, in fact was always an overweight and sedentary child. At the age of 21 Matt got up to 240 lbs, and was grossly out of shape. In 1998 he went and watched his brother Chris race at Ironman Hawaii, and decided that he too wanted an active lifestyle for himself. He decided then to try for another time to change his lifestyle and loose some weight. In the next 6 months Matt lost 75 lbs, and eventually started training for triathlons. He did his first triathlon less than a year later at Wildflower, and placed in his age group, and never looked back.
Matt quickly moved through the age group ranks, placing as high as 4th at Nationals and represented the United States at the World Championships in Cancun Mexico. After several years racing he decided that he wanted to be pushed a little more, and decided to start racing in the professional division. In his first year as a pro he finished top ten in his 1st Ironman, and raced at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. In 3 years racing as a Pro Matt has won 5 triathlons placed top 10 in 5 Ironman North America races, and currently holds a bike course record in an Ironman 70.3, and has competed in the World Championships at both Ironman distances. Matt has also starting racing bicycles and has won a pro road race and has completed National Racing Series professional stage races, and is working towards becoming a professional cyclist as well as triathlete.
In the past 3 years since racing pro Matt has been trying to find the right balance of work, training, and life. He moved himself to Bend Or. to be in an environment that was more conducive of the active lifestyle, and has found himself a very supportive community there. Since this move Matt has learned how to balance triathlon and the rest of his life, and is ready to push forward with some breakthrough races. With all of the great terrain around Bend Matt has been able to improve his running, while developing the confidence to be one of the dominating cyclists in the sport.
Matt’s goal in triathlon is to race to the best of his potential, whatever that is. In doing this he believes he can show others that they can do anything that they put their mind to. If he can convince one person to give up the couch for a bike or whatever it is that gives them a taste of what life really can bring, it is all worth it. Keeping this in mind Matt knows that the peak years for racing are still a couple years off for him, and believes he can be one of the best triathletes in the world. But foremost for him is to achieve these goals while racing with integrity and smiling every step of the way. ☺