SANTA BARBARA COUNTY TRIATHLON | Scott, 72, to compete
in sprint event this weekend
TRIATHLETE NOT READY TO SLOW DOWN
8/27/04
By MARK PATTON
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
 Alice
Scott could have figured that she crossed her finish line
long before this weekend's Santa Barbara County Triathlon.
There was the death of her close friend and longtime running
partner, Cally Brennand, in 1996.
There was that painful 10K that she ran two years ago,
not realizing that she had fractured several vertebrae in
her back. And there was the simple fact that she really
didn't know how to swim.
But Alice Scott also knew there was no reason why she
couldn't learn -- even at age 72.
The Santa Barbara grandmother will be the Santa Barbara
Triathlon's oldest rookie this weekend.
"Alice is a go-getter," said Dawn Schroeder, who recruited
Scott into her Momentum 4 Life training group. "There's
nothing you can tell her that she can't do."
The weekend event will begin Saturday at East Beach with
the coed long-course and sprint triathlons. Scott is entered
in Sunday's women's sprint triathlon. Scott said she simply
didn't know how to say no to Schroeder.
"She was this little girl who grew up across the street
from me -- someone who I watched grow up into this great
swimmer," she said. "She has this upbeat way of inspiring
people who weren't athletes.
"I was never an athlete. The only thing I knew about the
high school gym was that they held dances there on Friday
nights."
Scott did start running with Brennand in 1967. She recalls
Cally placing her infant son Scott, now the water polo coach
at San Marcos High School, in the middle of the track and
then running circles around him.
"He'd call out to us, and that would provide us with our
timing," Scott said with a laugh. "I didn't enter many races,
although I did do one 5K with her.
"I helped take care of her during her last month. She
was such a lovely, special girl."
The sprint triathlon will begin with a 500-yard ocean
swim along the East Beach Shoreline. It will be followed
by a six-mile bike ride and two-mile run.
It's the swim that has Scott most concerned. She did complete
a mock triathlon two weeks ago, employing the backstroke
through most of the swim.
"It took me awhile to get through the water -- but my
daughter (Jane Witchey) swims with me, and she keeps me
in line," she pointed out. "I'm so much stronger on my left
side that I have the tendency to go in circles when I swim.
Jane keeps me on course.
"This has become a real nice mother-daughter thing. She
really encourages me. I'll say, 'I don't think I'll be able
to do it,' and she answers right back, 'Oh yeah you will,
mom!' "
Scott, a retired nurse and mother of four, said many people
have helped bring her to the starting line.
"When I said I didn't know how to swim, Sharon Sayer was
sitting right behind me and said, 'I'd love to teach you,'
" she recalled. "She showed up at the club (Cathedral Oaks
Club) to get me started one morning at 6 a.m. last December
even though it was raining and dark.
"She was so sweet. She said, 'I didn't think you'd show
up.' "
Scott said she's also gotten a lot of help from Liz Lauderdale,
Mo Chambers and Dana Jordan.
Training every Saturday morning with the Momentum 4 Life
group has made a big difference, as well.
"They're just wonderful," said Scott. "Dawn has this wonderful
group of people who come in and talk to us about training
and health.
"I couldn't really participate last year because of my
injury -- I was the old mascot of the group, so to speak.
But I really wanted to do it this year.
"The older you get, the harder it is to get back into
it once you stop."
But Alice Scott now figures that she's just getting started.
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
"The older you get, the harder it is to get back into
it once you stop," says triathlete Alice Scott, 72, who
could not compete last year because of a back injury.
Alice Scott shows no signs of slowing down. She'll run
the sprint triathlon this weekend.
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