Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 24, 1990 TAG: 9006250176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When Bateman decided "to join the real world" in December 1989, he ranked as one of the top 20 triathletes in the world. Two months earlier, he joined a list of 25 men in the history of the sport to complete the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in less than nine hours.
After running, swimming and cycling his way to success in his sport, the Roanoke resident walked away seemingly satisfied. "When I got into the sport, I never said I was doing it to make money," Bateman said.
But that's why he left.
"You can't make a living at it," Bateman said of the sport he sank his teeth into in 1981. "Ranked in the top 20 in the world, you can't make a living at it. By a living, I mean paying for travel to Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Louisiana to compete against the best. I lost $7,000 last year.
"In 1989, I won every single race on the East Coast on the second tier of the professional level, and I placed in the top 10 on the national level in the races I went to.
"I was thinking there should be a little more in this for me than a break-even proposition. There are a lot of misconceptions out there, and I had some of them myself."
Bateman's life also had changed, as it did when he became a serious triathlete. In February 1989, he got married. Bateman and his wife, Novie, a flight attendant, recently bought a house in Roanoke. The former shoe salesman is using his business administration degree from Grove City (Pa.) College again.
But for a couple of minutes, things might have been different for the 5-foot-8, 145-pounder. His Hawaii Ironman time of 8 hours, 48 minutes, 47 seconds in October 1989 was 27 minutes faster than his effort the previous year at the world championships. He finished 18th overall, but the requalifying standards were altered - as they are annually - and only the top 15 were assured of a spot in 1990.
That prompted Bateman's decision.
"When I didn't qualify for Hawaii again, I felt a little offended," he said. "Then, when I started running and training again in December, maybe I didn't give myself enough time off. And I'd met all of my goals in '89. I've always been pretty specific with what I wanted to achieve.
"Until '89, there had been only seven people in history go under nine hours in Hawaii. And that was my goal, and I went 8:48. So, what's my goal now? 8:45? 8:30? It just didn't have the luster. And I wanted to have $5 in my pocket to buy flowers for my wife if I wanted, and I wasn't having that."
Fit to train others
Bateman rejoined the Roanoke Gators swimming program as a seniors coach, and started using his resume as more than just something to attract shoe and equipment manufacturers as sponsors. He started working with his brothers, using the phone and mail to push workout schedules and fitness programs.
He turned that into a personal business and, earlier this month, he was named the aquatics director for the Carter Athletic Center at North Cross School. Bateman is working part-time at Carter this summer, and goes full time in August. His business as a training guru also shows promise.
"A lot of people locally were always asking me brainstorming questions about running or training," Bateman said, sitting next to the pool at Carter. "I'm trying to make a business out of that. I have 15 clients in, in California terminology, a personal-training business, fitness consultant, coach, whatever you want to call it."
Bateman charges $100 per month and sees his clients at least once a week.
"I work with anyone from pure runners to triathletes, people interested in racing," Bateman said. "They interview me; I interview them. I'm not a weight-loss clinic. I make sure they have a goal, and they have to want to race.
"That and working here are doing wonders for me. I had been talking to the Carter Athletic Center and North Cross people since this facility opened, but until I got that sub-nine-hour race out of my system, I was of no use to anybody. I was always focused on that. I still had that to do before I could go on to something else."
Character builder
Bateman attended Roanoke Catholic High School for two years, then transferred to Cave Spring and graduated in 1979. He was a local youth swimmer of note and competed in the NCAA Division III national championships twice for Grove City. When he entered the Star City Triathlon in 1981, he was interested in little more than staying in shape for college swimming.
He won - although "I had no idea what I was doing" - in record time.
"It was fun, but it was more than just the racing," Bateman said. "I loved the training. I liked what it did for me, the kind of person it helped me be."
Bateman went to work for Omni Shoes, moving up to operations management in the five-store chain by 1986. That year, he had completed the Star City event in 5:12, one hour faster than he had done it four years earlier. Two weeks later, he went to a national qualifying event in Danville, finished fourth and competed in his first national championship that year. He finished 61st.
He left the shoe business in December 1986 and turned pro.
"I didn't say I was doing it to make money," he said. "What I found was it was making me a better person. I was getting along with my father better, relationships with people outside my family were better, and I was no longer this retail ogre, kind of the hatchet man I had been. So, it was easier to go to sleep and wake up with myself."
From 1987-89, Bateman competed with the backing of his father, Dick Bateman, a General Electric manager, and then Hopkins Travel, which basically paid his out-of-town expenses. He earned acclaim but little else in his sport.
Bateman admits he had delusions of grandeur, too. But his wedding helped end his triathlon honeymoon.
Bateman met his future wife at a March of Dimes "Bid for Bachelors" charity event.
"She didn't buy me," Bateman said, grinning. "Novie didn't even bid. But we met. It was like an instant attraction. We started going out and, eight months later, we were married.
"I think that she may have been the final straw. I wanted to be financially independent, and I didn't want to continue suckling the nipple of my father. When I was in the shoe business, I was putting money in an IRA, paying taxes, doing the things I think are normal and helpful to a person in today's world.
"Leaving the sport was a matter of knowing I needed to get more money in the bank, and not feeling comfortable with myself. Every year I was being more and more successful; yet, for whatever reason, I wasn't getting the bennies [money] that some lesser athletes were getting."
Bateman's best Ironman performance in Hawaii was a 12th-place finish in 1987. He won $1,500 for that, his best payday.
High price to pay
Bateman's frustration in his sport was only in the marketing and sponsorship. He said the Roanoke Valley, with its varied terrain and improving facilities, is a good training base for a triathlete. But the money goes to the high-profile competitors who live in the Rockies or in California, or those with agents.
"I'm not going to get down on my knees and bark like a dog and lick someone's heels just to get a wet suit," Bateman said. "I'm not that way."
If Bateman had it to do over, he said he would have turned pro in 1981, after winning his first triathlon. "The sport was only 3 years old at that time, but I didn't know that," he said. Five years later, there was more competition for sponsorship dollars.
"I think I could go faster now than I did last year, but the expense to do that, not only monetarily, but on relationships, on time, and physically, on ankle joints, knees, shinbones. It's not worth the price."
Bateman's work now is different from the training he once did with local fitness celebrity Artie Levin. He does about as much running now in one week as he used to do in one day. Swimming introduced Bateman to the triathlon. He hasn't been in the pool in quite some time. And the Hawaii Ironman circuit of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run really is miles away.
Now, he eats sweets and drinks an occasional beer. And he doesn't see others at a restaurant table with him ordering the same things he has because it's the healthy thing to do.
"I've walked away from triathlon competitiveness and the racing very satisfied, with a good taste in my mouth," Bateman said. "I don't live it through the people I'm working with, but I'm still involved. I think running, swimming and cycling are all things that can enhance the quality of life. They're not things you simply have to race at to enjoy.
"As for me, I still run. I still go cycling. And I get wet when I take a shower."
by CNB