{"id":71049,"date":"2024-01-24T11:33:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T18:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=71049"},"modified":"2024-01-30T10:07:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T17:07:03","slug":"raab-world-triathlon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/raab-world-triathlon\/","title":{"rendered":"Like father, like daughter: How one NAU family produced two World Triathlon competitors \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do an associate dean for the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences and a soon-to-be geology graduate with a minor in French have in common? In the case of <\/span>Scot<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>Jillian Raab<\/span><\/b>, the answer is an opportunity to represent Team USA at the 2024 World Triathlon championships in Australia. Scot will compete in the aquabike category, where he\u2019ll swim 3km (1.9 mi) and bike 120km (74.6 mi), and Jillian in the long distance category, where she\u2019ll swim and bike the same distances and then run 30km (18.6 mi). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, and also, they\u2019re family.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scot has been competing in triathlons since the 1980s, when his high school swim coach recommended him to a relay team looking for a third member who could swim competitively. The Watermelon Triathlon required him to swim in a small spring at the bottom of an orange grove in water that smelled of fertilizer and pesticides. Despite these unpleasant initial conditions, he continued to compete in triathlons throughout his life, eventually passing his enthusiasm for the sport on to his daughter.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Scot<\/a>\u201cIt is almost weird when one of us does a race and the other does not,\u201d said Jillian. She began competing alongside her father at the age of 12 and participated in her first triathlon at only 5 years old. \u201cIt was a little kid one, and I still had my training wheels on my bike,\u201d she said. During her childhood and adolescence, Jillian kept training and competing in more frequent and more difficult races until she was able to participate in an Ironman race just like her father.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember how he would train and the protein shakes he would make. I wanted to be like him so much I would make all sorts of weird mixtures in the blender and try to drink them,\u201d she said. When Scot completed his third Ironman in Phoenix in 2012, he received a medal and a backpack as prizes. \u201cI wanted the backpack so badly. I even asked for it,\u201d said Jillian, but her father told her she would have to earn her own. That is what inspired her to sign up for the first Ironman she could after turning 18.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jillian<\/a>Scot has enjoyed competing for as long as he can remember, but his focus is not on winning. \u201cWorking hard is its own reward,\u201d he said. \u201cA best time or a great performance is more important than a podium finish.\u201d He appreciates the challenges inherent in triathlons\u2014both the mental focus required to train for six-to-nine months before a competition and the way it gets tougher and tougher to push the boundaries of human ability as he ages. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Jillian, triathlon competitions and training are relaxing. \u201cIt keeps me healthy, busy and my mental capacity clear so I can continue to do as much as I do in school. Without it, I am not sure how I would handle all the things life throws at me,\u201d she said. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both father and daughter are proud to be representing the United States on the world stage. \u201cThe \u2018Team USA\u2019 text is more important than where it will read \u2018Raab,\u2019\u201d said Scot, who prioritizes being a good and respectful visitor to another country above all else. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a>To qualify for the team, the duo finished first in their respective age groups at the Clash Endurance Festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. \u201cWe swam in a\u00a0<\/span>man-made lake inside the Daytona International Speedway,\u201d Scot said of the experience. \u201cThe first mile or so and the last mile or so of the bike was on the speedway, pit row, checkered flags, loudspeakers etc. It was pretty cool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Raab family intends to make the most of their trip to Australia\u2014following a serious training regimen with a serious vacation. In addition to attending the World Triathlon, they plan to see the world\u2019s oldest rock and go scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Jessica Clark | NAU Communications
\njessica.clark@nau.edu\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do an associate dean for the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences and a soon-to-be geology graduate with a minor in French have in common? In the case of Scot and Jillian Raab, the answer is an opportunity to represent Team USA at the 2024 World Triathlon championships in Australia. Scot will…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":71056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1815],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lumberjack-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}