A longtime athlete discovers the Ironman in Bremerton, and isn't letting go
She is energetic, passionate, athletic and committed to being the best she can be. Leslie Maurice is also notable because she is doing something not many do, no matter the gender or age.
Leslie Maurice, a retired schoolteacher, is a 67-year-old triathlon competitor who grew up among a family of five children as the only one who loved athletics. She was good at whatever sport she could find, which was hard to find in her early years.
It was a chance encounter with Bob Becker in a spin class at the Bremerton YMCA some years back that led Maurice into athletics in a way most of us wouldn't imagine starting as retirement approaches. She embarked on a training program that has taken her to 12 Ironman competitions -- that's a triathalon that includes a full marathon run, 112-mile bike ride and 2.4-mile swim -- all over the country, and most recently the biggest one in Kona, Hawaii, which anybody who does triathlons shoots for.
Maurice didn’t start out to do this, but now she's fully engaged. She has now entered 12 Ironman competitions, finishing 10 of them -- her only two incompletes being when she didn't finish the swim, admittedly her weakest event among the three, in the required amount of time.
Maurice was born Leslie Quick, in Hicksville on Long Island, New York, and went to school in Smithtown, also on Long Island, where she was able in middle school to compete in sports thanks to changing mores that eventually led to the passage of Title IX legislation.
That all ended when family moved to Florida, which didn’t have sports for girls, much to her dismay. She graduated from Charlotte High School in Punta Gorda, Florida, and went for two years to Chatham College in Pittsburgh. She then transferred to the University of Florida, obtaining a degree in education with emphasis on middle school and high school math.
She taught in Florida, South Carolina and Japan before moving to Kitsap County in the 1990s, when her ex-husband was transferred to Bangor. She began teaching at Marcus Whitman in South Kitsap School District, then moved to Central Kitsap Junior High, CK Alternative High School and Fairview Junior High.
Maurice received the Golden Apple Award as 2004 teacher of the year in Washington State, making headlines on a TV show and in the Kitsap Sun.
In 2012 she started taking cycling classes and then volunteered to teach cycling classes at the Bremerton YMCA. Little did she know that was the beginning of a journey that would lead her to the Ironman.
The cycling classes are where she ran across Becker, a retired Bremerton High School teacher and coach known locally for his ability to bike all over the state at an advanced age.
Bob Becker: The oldest man to ever ride the RAMROD, still cycling around Bremerton
“She was looking for somebody to ride with,” says Becker. “Somebody suggested she could ride with me. Well, she said she did not want to ride with an old guy. He would be too slow."
“I rolled my eyes,” she said. “None of my friends would ride with me.”
She reluctantly took Becker up on it.
“I thought I would put him to shame,” Maurice said. “I not only had a slice of humble pie, but the whole damn pie.”
At first, she borrowed a bike to ride with Becker and his group. It was not long before she had her own bike. And it was not long before her daughter turned down a chance to ride with her boyfriend, who was training for the Kentucky Ironman in Louisville. She suggested her mother could ride with him.
“We started riding and I cleaned him,” Maurice said. “I rode much better than him.”
Spurred by that, Maurice began thinking big. She took on a coach ‑ Robin Pelton – and training really began. Maurice did a half-Ironman in Olympia (.92-mile swim, 25-mile bike and 6.2-mile run) another one in Spokane and one in Victoria, Canada.
For her 60th birthday – 11/5/16, which she called "a great math day" (11 plus five equals 16) – she competed in the Panama City, Florida, Ironman.
“I finished 5th in my age group, which is almost unheard of for my first Ironman," Maurice said. “Having a coach like Robin, who is so supportive and has been with me this entire crazy ride – I could never had done it without her. I learned a long time ago to just trust the process.
“You get hooked on it when you get on the red carpet and people are clapping and cheering for you. It’s just a wonderful feeling.”
Maurice trains by swimming at Wildcat Lake and the YMCA, bikes with the men in the Silverdale group and runs all over Bremerton.
Pelton, who works part-time at Poulsbo Running, has been coaching Maurice for six years and says she is amazing.
“She is dedicated to the sport and wants to get to the next level, “Pelton says. “She is just learning to swim, but she loves the sport. She never misses a workout. If she does, it’s for a very good reason. She always wants to better herself.”
The men who gather for the Tuesday and Thursday rides out of Silverdale take special care of Maurice. It’s a strong male cycling group and they welcome her and make sure somebody drops back and rides with her for a short while to let her know she is a valuable member.
“We watch out for each other,” says Becker. “We see somebody with a problem, we stop and help. We don’t leave anybody behind.”
“She is not a slow rider. We are a fast group. For our age group we are pretty strong. For her training she is probably an A-plus personality. She is driven. She trains every day. We got to admire her for doing a long bike ride and getting out and running four-five miles.”
Maurice’s dad was a source of encouragement growing up. He recognized his daughter had not only intellect, but athletic ability.
It was 1969, the summer of the Miracle Mets, and Maurice and her father would play catch. As they did, he would toss her a math problem besides a baseball, and the answer would match the uniform number of a Mets’ player. She had to not only solve the math problem but identify the player by the answer.
“She’s an incredible athlete, physically and mentally strong,” says Pelton. “She’s very mentally tough.”
Little did the founders of the Kona Ironman – Judy and John Collins – know in 1978 that someday a perky, determined competitor would do Kona and finish 30th out of 43 in her age group (women ages 65-69), finishing in 16 hours, 13 minutes and 34 seconds. Next up -- the Arizona Ironman in November.
"It has always been a dream of mine,” says Maurice. “I think if I qualify for Kona I would do it again."
Terry Mosher is a longtime Kitsap sportswriter who writes about local sports personalities for the Kitsap Sun. Contact him at bigmosher@msn.com.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton's Leslie Maurice keeps achieving triathlon goals
