Rick Spear once thought he’d be a doctor or lawyer. But the lure of Wall Street was strong. So in 1984, immediately after graduating from Stanford — where his thesis advisor was Condoleezza Rice — he started making serious money.
Eight years with Morgan Stanley was followed by a decade as a management consultant, advising financial services firms.
In 2003 — age 40 — Spear retired.
He’d always been a bicycle racer. Now — with time on his hands — he vowed to improve.
Rick Spear
Out of that desire came Target Training. Spear opened the Westport triathlon and cycling training center and retail store in 2005 as a way to “leverage knowledge of endurance sports to help people like me have healthier bodies.”
A 2nd site opened recently in Greenwich.
“Endurance for Life” is Target Training’s motto. “You can’t fake being fit — running 5 miles, or biking 50 miles,” Spear says.
Target’s target audience is hard-working (and well-off) men and women. They train hard. And typically, as soon as they meet one goal, they look for a new challenge.
Here’s a big one. This Sunday (June 19), Target Training sponsors its 1st-ever Sprint Triathlon. The half-mile swim, 13-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run begins and ends at Sherwood Island. The middle portions takes racers through the Green’s Farms and Compo neighborhoods.
A portion of the proceeds goes to Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Cancer Care pediatrics department. It is a cause dear to Spear’s heart.
In its half-decade in Westport, Target Training has been closely involved with community activities. They sponsor, or work with, the Young Woman’s League Minute Man race, Andy Boas’s Charter Oak Challenge Foundation bike tour, Sound Cyclists and ABC House.
This month’s triathlon builds on the training Target is known for. It’s not only cyclists and runners who flock to the center next to Great Cakes — swimmers also work out under the Target banner at the Staples and Longshore and Norwalk Y pools, as well as Compo and Sherwood Island.
On Sunday, Spear will help out — not compete. “I’m a bike racer, not a triathlete,” he says. But, he adds — like the competitor he was on Wall Street, and remains today — “I win my share.”
(For more information on Target Training’s Sprint Triathlon, click here.)
Interesting story behind a big amateur sports boom. I was a competitive age group “triath” in the 90’s in Texas. Far more laid back then. It was more for the overaged jocks who were bored with marathoning. Now, it is tough even to get into some of the Ironman distances. Also, back then, a teenage kid was taking the sport by storm in the Lone Star state: Lance Armstrong. He could fly. Swam like a rock though. Good luck Sunday!