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Triathlon club goes for Fat Man

Slim Smith, Tribune Columnist July 20, 2006

There are thousands of triathlon clubs in the world. The one founded by Gilbert chiropractor Jeff Banas may be the worst. Or the best, maybe.

If you want to find representatives of Banas’ Arizona Triathlon Club at a competitive triathlon, look at the back of the pack. That’s where you will find the bulk of Banas’ proteges as they wheeze toward the finish line.

“We have one guy in our club that, when he competes, the street crews are picking up the cones right behind him and the guy at the finish line is wrapping up the mike cord after he announces our guy’s finish,’’ said Banas, with a hint of glee in his voice. “It’s great.’’

To understand Banas’ odd perspective on this, you must understand where he’s been.

Four years ago, Banas was his own worst advertisement. At 6-foot-2, 270 pounds, Banas hardly inspired confidence of would-be clients for his sports therapy and chiropractic office, which operated out of a health club.

Years of poor nutrition had prepared the 33-year-old Gilbert resident for nothing better than being a “before’’ photo for a weight-loss program.

And it was at that point that Banas decided he had better do something about it. So he started training for a “sprint triathlon,’’ which is a shorter version of the standard triathlon. In four months leading up to the event, Banas lost 40 pounds. He’s since lost 20 more and has become his own “after’’ photo. At age 37, he is a trim 210 pounds.

Mostly by word of mouth, Banas began to turn others on to the idea of training for a triathlon as a weight-loss strategy.

Now, four years later, weight loss represents about half his business.

Banas is convinced that training for a triathlon gives people a greater incentive than simply setting a date on the calendar.

“The thing is, when you are training for an event, you know that the event is coming, no matter what. On the other hand, if you say you want to lose X amount of pounds by X date and don’t make the goal, you can always say, ‘Well, I’ll give myself two more weeks’ or whatever. Training for an event locks you in.’’

The idea of the Arizona Triathlon Club came to Banas when he realized that many of his clients were too intimidated to train with veteran triathletes.

“Our club, that doesn’t matter. Some of our club members walk, some dog paddle, some can hardly ride a bicycle,’’ he said. “Because of that, nobody is intimidated.’’

If that’s not enough incentive, club membership is free. When you think about it, there’s no reason not to sign up. You can join by visiting www.aztriclub.com.