Bradley has milestone Ironman triathlon

Lyndonville native earns spot in world championships and professional status

Contributed Photo – Lyndonville native Scott Bradley in the recent Ironman 70.3 competition in Puerto Rico which earned him a spot in the upcoming world championships and also his elite (professional) triathlon card.

Just four years into competing in the grueling sport, Lyndonville native Scott Bradley has quickly soared to the top of the world Ironman triathlon competition.

Bradley recently earned a second place finish in his age group (30-34) at the Ironman 70.3 in Puerto Rico to not only earn a spot in the upcoming world championships for the second time but also to earn a coveted elite (professional) triathlon license.

“Since I was a little kid I wanted to be a professional athlete,” Bradley said on his blog. “Granted, I wanted to play either soccer or hockey at the time, but it was always a dream. Now, at 30 years old, once I submit my paperwork to USAT and make it official, I will be able to say that I achieved that goal. I may never win a race or earn a dollar from triathlon, but I have reached a level and accomplished something that is pretty difficult to do. I won’t be able to give up my teaching job, but I’m still pretty happy with that.”

The Puerto Rico triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, 13.1 mile run for a total of 70.3 miles) only had 30 qualifying slots for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  50 – 75 slots is the norm.

This was also an elite qualifying race.  The top three Age Groupers (amateurs) qualify for a pro card.  The pro prize purse must be $20,00 or more for a race to be an elite qualifying race.

Bradley though rose to the occasion finishing 11th overall out of the 960 starters. His times were 31:27 for the swim, 2:16:19 for the bike and 1:32:54 for the run.  With transition times, he finished in 4:25:42.

He finished second in his age group, which was allocated two slots for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, so for the second straight year he qualified for the World Championships which will be held in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec  on September 7.

This is a significant accomplishment in that approximately 90,000 people will compete around the world for about 2,000 slots in this competition.

However, as impressive as that is in and of itself, qualifying for Worlds was minimized by the fact that by being the third overall amateur out of the 946 starters he also qualified for his elite (professional) triathlon license!!!

Bradley plans is to continue racing as an amateur through September.  He has already registered for Ironman 70.3 Syracuse in June and Ironman 70.3 Timberman in August.  His final amateur race will be the ironman 70.3 World Championships in September.

Bradley will then apply for his elite triathlon license and begin racing as a professional.  His plan right now is for his first professional race to be Ironman Cozumel (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run = 140.6 miles) in late November.

“Very honestly this is all mind-boggling.  Having been involved in the sport for less than 4 years, this is all pretty amazing,” said Scott’s dad Wes Bradley. ” It goes without saying that Laurie and I are very proud.  We are very thankful to the many people who have touched Scott’s life throughout his years and helped to mold the dedication and work ethic that he has.”