Eben Jones' return to triathlon competitions was just like riding a bike. Actually, it was riding a bike. Swimming and running, too. The difference for the one-time professional triathlete is that he's now 50. He might not be as fast as he was in his 30s, yet he still moves better than a lot of athletes half his age.
The New Canaan athlete finished second last Saturday in the ITPMan Triathlon in Darien. The race was his first since 2002, when he won the Mighty Montauk Triathlon for the ninth time in 10 tries. His wife, Julie, purchased Eben a bike for his birthday in August. "I knew he would never do it for himself,'' Julie said. She entered him in the Darien event, and he returned to training. "It was time for him to pursue something he wanted to do. You don't want to leave something on the table and say I wish I had tried it again,'' Julie says.
"I think I always looked at 50 as a hump point,'' said Eben, who swam at Dartmouth College and is now employed as a bond trader. "I needed a starting point. Now it's a test to see if I can develop any speed."
Jones' best year as a professional came in 1991, when he competed in the International Triathlon Union World Cup series. He finished seventh overall in the series, which consisted of 11 races. He continued to compete until 2002. Family responsibilities prompted him to scale back and eventually quit competing. He and Julie have four children: Lindsay, 16, E.J., 14, Andrew, 7, and Julianne, 6. "I played a lot of golf and coached and watched my kids play soccer and swimming and football,'' Eben said. "It was time for other things."
While he was "retired,'' Jones thought about returning to triathlon competitions. He didn't get the push he needed until Julie purchased the birthday bike. It helped reignite the passion for competition that stayed lit just under the surface. His goal now is to return and be competitive at the Hawaii Ironman if he can qualify. He thinks he can return if his knees and joints allow him to do the necessary training. He broke his leg in the 16th mile of his last Ironman, in 1990. "The heart and the head for it will be there,'' Eben said. "The question is the body."
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