A bit past midnight, the females-only Christmas party figured to be winding down, so Paul Huddle decided it was safe to give Greg Welch a ride back to his home, the site of the bash. There were no cars in front of the house.
“Thank God it’s over,” said Huddle.
But the closer Huddle and Welch walked to the house, the louder the bass-rattling music blared. Once inside, Huddle and Welch were greeted by their scantily clad significant others disco dancing. Sian Welch, wearing boots up to her knees, danced atop a coffee table.
Being men, Huddle and Greg Welch moved to the couch, grabbed the remote and began watching ESPN’s “Sports Center.”
“Look at me! Look at me!” screamed Sian.
Greg ignored her. The next thing he knew, a boot went flying toward Greg’s head and Sian continued wailing, “Look at me!”
Hence, one of Sian’s nicknames: “Look at me!”
Like her husband, Sian’s known for liking to be the center of attention. She has a bit of diva in her, matched by a world of substance. Before this year, the last time Sian, 39, raced an Ironman-distance event was April 2000 when she finished second to Lori Bowden at Ironman Australia. More than five years later, she returned to Kona last month, this time as an age-grouper, and waltzed away with the 35-39 title, winning in 10 hours, 2 minutes, despite running a 3:49 marathon on a seriously injured foot.
There were some who raised their eyebrows at Welch, three times a top-10 finisher at Hawaii, lining up as an age-grouper. The grumblings bothered Welch not in the least.
Says Welch, “I know where I should be.”
Consider how far removed Sian has been from professional lifestyle and all she has endured since her 2000 Ironman Australia performance: Greg was forced to abruptly retire because of a condition that caused his heartbeat to frighteningly race up to 300 beats per minute; Sian, too, retired to focus on Greg; Greg underwent seven heart surgeries, each lasting 5-8 hours; (Since going on new medication 16 months ago, Greg’s heart condition has been under control.) Sian suffered a miscarriage; the couple celebrated the birth of two daughters, Annie, 4 and Emma, 2; Sian balanced motherhood, marriage and a career as a real-estate agent.
About Sian’s resolve, Paula Newby-Fraser says: “She probably doesn’t realize this, but we live among so many great athletes around here (in San Diego County), but I’d say the consensus is that she’s the toughest chick out there. What she went through with Greg, managing to give him (two children), giving him every reason to pull through, it’s amazing.”
Sian illustrated grit at an early age. Born in England, she moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was 4 and by 11 became a serious ice skater. For four years she woke up regularly at 4:15 a.m., skated for three hours in the morning and another three hours in the afternoon. “I knew I had the discipline for athletics,” says Sian. “(My parents) never had to wake me up. I always had to wake them.”
She would burn out on skating, then major in exercise physiology at San Diego State University where a friend introduced her to triathlon. She finished fifth in her age group at her first triathlon, eventually meeting Greg through the sport’s grapevine. Greg and Sian’s coupling intertwined two kindred spirits. Both are blessed with insane talent. Greg won world championships at four distances, including Ironman Hawaii in 1994. Sian won a U.S. national championship at the Olympic distance, plus Ironman Australia in 1998.
The couple lives life to its fullest, playing and partying hard. After one Grand Prix race in Australia when the awards program ended past midnight, Greg and Sian celebrated with race organizers at an underground bar late into the night and early into the morning. They returned to their hotel just past dawn the next morning, crossing paths with some athletes who were heading out the door for a morning run.
“Bon Jovi couldn’t party the way those two did,” said Newby-Fraser.
With Greg’s health getting better and their daughters now in preschool, Sian decided to race some this year. She placed third out of 105 in her age group at Ralphs. With Greg, a consultant for World Triathlon Corp. and a commentator for Ironmanlive.com, attending the Honu Half, Sian entered that event, too. Riding a new Trek bike – “It was so comfortable, it felt like I did nothing,” Sian said – she won her age group at Honu, then debated whether to accept the Hawaii spot.
“I asked Paula, ‘What would you do?’ ” said Sian. “She said, ‘Take the spot.’ I always listen to Paula over Greg.”
So Sian embarked on returning to Kona. But with her hectic wife-mother-real-estate-agent lifestyle, she did so on minimal training. She biked once a week, swam twice a week and ran 2-4 times a week. The final two months before Kona she added a second cycling workout.
Demonstrating less can be more, Welch won her age group by nearly 12 minutes, finishing ahead of many pros, including next-door neighbor Heather Fuhr.
There to greet Welch at the finish line was the eight-time Ironman Hawaii champion Newby-Fraser, filling her role as an Ironmanlive.com commentator.
“What you did,” said Newby-Fraser, talking about Welch’s balance and juggling act, “blew me away.”
Said Welch: “I juggled, but I enjoyed it. I feel like I took no time away from my family.”
Now Welch wants to take triathlon one step further. She hopes to return to Hawaii next year, only as a pro, ideally finishing in the top 10. Newby-Fraser thinks it’s a mistake, that by turning pro Welch would remove the simplicity and innocence as an age-grouper and saddle herself with expectations and the added time commitment by racing professionally.
“That just takes the exact ingredient that made her so successful and changes things,” Newby-Fraser says.
Replies Sian: “That’s what motivates me, to take the next challenge, see if I can do it.”
Should she turn pro, Sian promises to keep triathlon in perspective. The sport ranks no higher than fifth on her list of priorities, behind her religious faith, husband, children and career.
This much is certain. Greg Welch supports his woman because she did the same for him. Besides giving him two beautiful, rambunctious daughters, she helped him through his illness, directing him to yoga and counseling to help calm his life and his heart.
“If it weren’t for her,” said Greg, “I wouldn’t be half the person I am and I wouldn’t have recovered the way I did. She is an incredible motivation to me. To see what she does day in and day out is magnificent.”
