FEATURE
Triathlon:
It Runs in the Family
By Pete Williams
Hattit Potts finished five triathlons in 2010, winning her age group four times and finishing second in the other event. Perhaps that’s not surprising given that she’s the mother of prominent pro triathlete and 2004 Olympian Andy Potts.


But Hattit Potts, who turned 60 in November, is no veteran triathlete. She took up the sport only three years ago, part of a recent trend of pro triathlete family members entering multisport.


Other pro sports can boast of second-generation stars such as NFL quarterback Peyton Manning or baseball player Ken Griffey, Jr. That’s not the case with triathlon, which has a history that spans barely three decades.


On the other hand, triathlon is perhaps the only sport where pros and weekend-warrior age-groupers can compete in the same events, albeit in different waves and start times.


Ten of Andy Potts’ relatives have competed in the sport, including both parents, his brother and sister, an uncle and aunt and a couple of cousins. One cousin, Jack Basile, is a doctor and Ironman Louisville finisher who occasionally works the medical tent at Ironman events when he’s not racing. A large Potts contingent competed in the Timberman Ironman 70.3 in New Hampshire in August.


After Andy, 34, raced at the Ironman world championship in Kona in October, the family celebrated Hattit’s 60th birthday early with an oddball “Hat’s Off Triathlon,” a play on Hattit’s name, which is a nickname for Harriet.


Continued on page 50


USATRIATHLON.ORG USA TRIATHLON 49

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