willy Waks

Willy Waks was born in Paris, many years before Triathlons
existed. Growing up in the French eastern countryside - in the
area of Nancy, Lorraine -, he played "football" , a.k.a. soccer,
both for his school team and his hometown team. After high
school, he moved to Israel, where he lived for ten years,
graduated from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and became an
avid squash player.

Eventually, a relationship with a Texas girl brought him to the
US, first to the New-York area, then Dallas in 1987. They were
married and bore together three little Texans, two of them now
grown-up.

When his son David was fifteen, he wanted to participate in
mountain bike races, and as a good Dad, Willy chauffeured him
to races in the Hill Country and around Texas. Looking at the
racers' waist line in his age group, Willy lined himself up at
Rocky Hill Ranch MB race, and this was the beginning of a new
journey. He eventually finished second in his category in the
2001 Texas Fall MB championship, and qualified (but did not go)
for the Xterra National Championship in 2004. His first triathlon
was the AARP sprint in Irving in Oct 2001, followed by Ironman
France in Gerardmer in June 2002. Since then, he has ran several
marathons, including Austin in 2008 in 3:54 (40 minutes faster
than his first), and IM France in Nice in 2005.

January 2010 update:
These were my goals for the 2009 season: qualifying for the Boston marathon and having a good time at IM Coeur d'Alene on June 21.

A broken shoulder - due to a fall on the running trail - had me postpone those plans by one year.
As of now, I'm in a good place, having just qualified for Boston at the Dallas White Rock Marathon, and happily training for IM Canada, August 29.