Iron Man competitor to travel to New York for his third event
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

Scott Harris, two-time Iron Man competitor, about to face his third competition in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Marlborough - A 2.4-mile swim, a 26.2-mile run, and a 112-mile bike ride in the summer heat is not intimidating local resident Scot Harris. Scott, who had completed the Wisconsin Iron Man Competition twice, despite temperatures of 90-plus degrees, will undertake his third triathlon July 22 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

"The race is 90 percent mental," Scott said. "If you think you can't do it, then you can't."

He explained that although he was always an athlete, in 2001, he weighed 200 pounds and found himself getting winded after climbing a flight of stairs. He decided to get fit and spent the next year biking.

"I thought I was in shape and tried to do a three-mile run," Scott said. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

He explained that after watching the X Terror race, a mountain bike triathlon, on television, he thought it would be cool. After focusing on bike rides with a bit more intensity, in 2002, he participated in his first race, the "Rockbuster Race" in Ashland.

Scott continued to compete all summer in local triathlons and at the end of the summer in August he successfully completed New York's X Terror race, the one that had originally piqued his interests in triathlons.

However, that fall his training came to halt when he was diagnosed with skin melanomas. After treatment, he began his training again. His medical prognosis was clean and Harris was looking to the spring and summer competition season. In 2003, he competed in the New York Marathon, Olympic Distance Race, and his first half Iron Man.

"It [the half Iron Man] was the 'Timber Man' in New Hampshire and it was harder then I thought," Scott said. "As the races get longer, you have to go slower and stay aerobic."

In November 2003, he signed up for the 2004 Iron Man and hired a trainer.

"I knew after doing the half Iron Man wrong, I would need help to do a full race," he explained.

One year after going on a strict diet with an extensive work-out schedule, he set out for Wisconsin.

"I knew I was going to finish, bar a broken bone," Scott said.

Finish he did: 1,300th out of 2,200. Scott's wife, Carol Harris, banned him from any more Iron Man races prior to that race, because of the intense training regiment that takes so much time. But after the race, Carol explained, there is such a rush even as a spectator, that she told him after the race: "You are going to sign up for next year."

Scott went back and competed again in 2004 and successfully completed the race, which holds the record for the most entrants who do not finish and is referred to as the "Carnage Man."

Scott decided to take a break in 2006 and became a spectator. After watching the Lake Placid race, he signed up.

"I am excited to compete again," Scott said. "I did not use a trainer [this time] and I am doing it by the seat of my pants."

Scott continues to love competing.

"The race begins with a mass start, and there are 2,100 people all swimming at the same time," he said. "The sound is like nothing you can ever imagine; it is very motivating."