Johnson’s engine always revved

By TIM DUMAS Chronicle Sports Editor

Harry Johnson was ready for a new challenge. Another check for his list of been there, done thats.

DEIRDRE EITEL/CHRONICLE Harry Johnson, 53, rides his bike on the Burke Park trail Monday afternoon before leaving for California to compete in the Xterra Triathlon Nationals. The Harley-Davidson-riding grandfather had already guided mountain-climbing treks world-wide, participated in World Ironman Triathlon Championships in three different decades and competed in a 500-mile canoe race down the Yukon River.

And this past Sunday, he piloted an airplane to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for a day of climbing with a friend.

“We’re going to hike up the Grand (Teton) and we’ll turn around when we hit the snow,” Johnson, 53, said.

Later that night, he reported that they “only” made it as high as 12,000 feet.

Just another adventure.

Johnson’s latest venture is competing in off-road triathlons. After sticking to the pavement for 25 years, he has taken to the woods, and this Sunday will participate in the Xterra National Championships at Incline Village, Nev., near Lake Tahoe.

In his first year of off-road races, he won his age group in events at La Grande, Ore., Spearfish, S.D., and in his hometown of Bozeman.

Beginner? Hardly.

His success landed Johnson on top of his age division in the Mountain Region - which covers Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and parts of Idaho - earning him entry into the Xterra finals.

“I’m not an off-road guy,” Johnson said. “This year I decided to have some fun with it and next thing I knew I’m going to Nationals.”

His prior triathlons included bike rides and runs on easy-to-maneuver roads and swims in comfortable water temperatures. The Ironman events were comprised of 2.4-mile swims, 112-mile bike rides and 26-mile runs. The Xterra races are not only shorter (1.5-kilomter swim, 20 miles on the bike, a 10K run), they are more rugged.

The swim portions are done in chilly mountain lakes and the other legs include countless hills and rocks.

“I quickly discovered that being the fittest guy out there accounts for about nothing,” Johnson said with his infectious laugh. “It’s almost like two different sports.”

Johnson knows all about being different.

When he’s not running, biking, swimming or climbing, Johnson rides with a different crowd. And it’s not on a stationary bike at a health club.

For almost as long as he has been participating in triathlons, Johnson has owned a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He purchased his first Harley in 1994 and currently co-owns, along with son-in-law Josh Fry, Yellowstone Harley-Davidson in Belgrade.

“I think I might be a little bit of a freak when it comes to the Harley crowd,” he said. “Put this way: when I go to Sturgis (home of the famous weeklong motorcycle rally in South Dakota) and get up in the morning and go for a run on the bike trails, I don’t bump into any other people.

“There are some fit guys who ride Harleys, but it’s not the norm.”

Johnson grew up along the Bolivar Peninsula, the Southeast Texas swath of land that was recently decimated by Hurricane Ike. He moved to Alaska at age 12 and later became a mountain guide.

He called “The Last Frontier” home for 35 years, but hardly spent all of his time at home.

Johnson has climbed mountains on every continent and reached the peak of Mt. McKinley, the highest in North America, eight times. Of his countless distance races, he holds the distinction of winning the first marathon held in Antarctica, in 1996. In the Lower 48, Johnson ran the 1998 Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 33 minutes and placed 73rd out of more than 11,000 runners.

Johnson and his wife Diane bought a house in Bozeman nine years ago after their two daughters became students at Montana State University, but Harry was still “commuting” back to Alaska until 2004.

What kept him in Anchorage so long was his love of coaching. At East High School, Johnson coached cross country, Nordic skiing and track and field, guiding the Thunderbirds to state titles in each sport.

The transition to Bozeman and all the endurance opportunities the city offers wasn’t hard, he says.

“Living in Alaska is like living in Bozeman: there’s so many people doing crazy stuff around you, you get wrapped up in it as well,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s first year as an off-roader has landed him among the elite. He says he’s using the experience to improve and hopes to make it back to Xterra nationals next year.

And the year after that? Another trip to Hawaii to compete for a fourth decade in the World Ironman Triathlon Championships. His first was in 1989, back before he owned his first Harley.

Maybe by 2010 Johnson will have taken up BASE jumping. If he has, he’s sure to hit the ground running, or biking, or …

“They’re aren’t too many bozos,” he says, “that are willing to keep at it for 30 years.”

Tim Dumas can be reached at tdumas@dailychronicle.com and 582-2651.

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