Al Navidi
Al Navidi was born in Iran in 1959 and raised there until age 18. During his younger years and into his adult life, as active and outgoing as Al was, he had not concentrated in any particular sport. In fact, his major activity as a child had been playing soccer with his friends and classmates. This was a sport at which he was only mediocre.
In 1991, six years after he graduated from Catholic University with an MChE in Chemical Engineering, Al competed in the Sallie Mae 10K in Washington, DC. At the age of 31 and with very little competitive experience, this was Al's first attempt at a race. After surprising himself with a 48-minute finish, he started to compete in other races. Eventually he moved on to duathlon races as he gained more bicycling experience. His first duathlon was in Frederick, Maryland. As much fun as he had during this race, he was deeply disappointed after being passed by a 61-year-old woman. He finished the race 110th out of approximately 150 competitors. Feeling hurt and disappointed, he gradually started to increase his training and continued to improve.
Feeling more confident with his running and bicycling, Al decided to try a triathlon. In 1993 Al competed in his first triathlon, the inaugural Riverwatch Triathlon in Northeast, Maryland, sponsored by the then Maryland Triathlon Club. From that year on, Al competed in 20-25 races a year, including approximately six to eight triathlons and duathlons.
Al ran his first marathon in 1994 in New York City, despite the warning of his physician not to participate in anything as grueling as a marathon, since he was suffering from a stress fracture in his right foot. Fortunately, nothing serious happened and he finished it in four hours and change. Since 1994, he has participated in several other marathons, including two more in New York, three Marine Corps Marathons and one in Pittsburgh, where he set his personal record of 3:29. Spurred on by his continued improvement, Al began to focus more on his swimming and started taking classes to improve his swimming technique and speed.
In 1996, Al's close friend, Hamid Kazemi, a local oral surgeon and a fellow triathlete, asked him to join him in competing in the ITU Championship Race in Cleveland, Ohio where Al and Hamid represented their home country of Iran. They had so much fun at that race, that since then they have competed in two more ITU events in Lausanne, Switzerland (1998) and Montreal, Canada (1999). According to Al, during these events, one of the most interesting things has been seeing people's facial expressions after they see the "Team Iran Triathlon" logo on their uniforms. People from all over the world seem to wonder how a sport like triathlon had become popular in a country like Iran!
In 1998 Al decided to start competing in triathlons as a Clydesdale, having been introduced to Team Clydesdale by its founder, Guy East. Al's 6'1", 200-pound frame was just heavy enough to qualify for this category.
Also in 1998, after having competed in 60 or so triathlons, including several finishes in Columbia, Reston, Eagleman, Fairmont Park, Mrs. T's, etc., Al decided to set his sights higher. His goal was now to compete in an Ironman distance triathlon. Since his friends Bill Pastor and Josh Meggitt also were planning to compete in an Ironman, the three of them started to train together. Al, Bill and Josh spent their weekends doing bike rides of 100+ miles. Most of these bike rides were round trip rides from Al's home in Bethesda to Sugarloaf Mountain in Frederick County. Luckily, training paid off and Al successfully completed his first attempt at the Great Floridian Triathlon in 14:01:10. If Al had been six months older, he would have won fifth place amongst the 40-44 Clydesdales.
:-(Although 1999 has been a somewhat quiet year for Al, who has been trying to consistently finish in the overall top 10 to 15 percent of his running races. He has also been featured in several publications including the Iranian Sports Homepage (www.sportestan.com) and the Ancient Mariners Newsletter.
Al recently completed the Chicago marathon, his ninth, and finished the millennium with a bang in 3:35. His plans for year 2000 are to compete in the ITU Championship Race in Perth, Australia, as well as the Clydesdale World Championship in London, England. He also plans to run in either the Los Angeles or Houston marathons. He currently swims with the Ancient Mariners Masters group in Bethesda.
Al has created a race photo album on his website at www.navidi.com. He can be contacted at anavidi@navidi.com.