Brothers in arms! British Triatletes Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee in bid for Olympic glory
March 4, 2012 1 Comment
The scene was a Yorkshire park. Two young brothers were cornered by a group of older boys and ordered to hand over their pennies. ‘Get lost,’ responded the older brother and promptly ran off. His younger brother attempted to follow, only to be tripped by one of the gang and kicked as he lay on the floor.
The older brother may have been smaller than the gang and he may have been outnumbered, but he was not going to leave his brother at the mercy of some yobs. He ran back, helped his brother to his feet and together they made it to safety.
Family matters: Alistair (left) and Jonathan Brownlee
Twelve years on, the bond between Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee is just as strong. The men who are, respectively, the world triathlon champion and runner-up may laugh about the park story now but have they really changed that much when it comes to competing in sport’s most gruelling event, a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle ride and 10km run, completed back to back?
Take the example of the 2010 European Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
‘We were in the leading cycling pack when Al got a puncture in his tyre,’ Jonny, 21, explained. ‘It was my job to slow the pack down to make sure Al could recover the gap. Nobody else wanted to put in the work so it was easy to do. It wasn’t long before Al rejoined us.’
Surely the better tactic would have been to have pounced while the race favourite, 23-year-old Alistair, was indisposed, creating an unassailable lead? Jonny shakes his head at the unthinkable.
‘I wouldn’t do that to anyone because it wouldn’t feel like a pure win. And I certainly wouldn’t do it to my brother,’ he insisted. Alistair chips in. ‘No, neither would I. It shows that we do work as a team in races, but there’s nothing stopping two Germans or two Aussies doing the same. There is one big difference, though. Only one of the Germans can win, which leaves the other wondering what he’s getting out of it. With us, whoever loses is still happy because his brother has won.’
Race to the finish: Alistair beat Jonny to claim the European gold
The twist to the Pontevedra story is that Alistair, despite his brother’s charity, went on to beat Jonny to claim the European gold. ‘We were level with 1500 metres to go,’ he recalled.
‘Then Jonny tried to make a break and that’s when I passed him. It was great. There were tiny, narrow streets, the crowd were pouring out all over the place and we were bumping off walls.’
How much did he beat his younger brother by in the end? ‘It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that we were both a minute-and-a-half ahead of everyone else.’
Alistair has been one pace ahead of his younger brother ever since Jonny came into the world. ‘He’d push me in my toy car into walls and beat me up a bit,’ said Jonny, prompting chuckles from both men. ‘Then I’d go running to our Mum. It made me stronger.
‘Then, when I was older, I’d see Al come home with a GB international vest, and then medals. It made the chances of me following suit realistic because it was so close to home.’
Now the students – former Cambridge and Leeds University graduate Alistair is studying finance at Leeds Metropolitan while Jonny is in his third year reading history at Leeds – are inseparable as they prepare for the London Games and the chance to claim an historic onetwo for Britain in Hyde Park this summer.
Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain
‘There can’t be two brothers in the history of time who spend more time together,’ said Alistair. ‘We live together and we train together, for hours and hours upon end every day in what could be, if we allowed it, very intense circumstances with the Olympics looming. Of course, we don’t allow this, and it’s amazing how well we get on.’
The training has been interrupted by a tear in Alistair’s left achilles tendon which means a four-week lay-off in a protective boot. With two weeks already gone, Alistair hopes to start rehabilitation in a fortnight’s time, and what he terms ‘proper running’ a week after that. He is not happy. ‘It’s not a catastrophe,’ he conceded. ‘It would be if we were now in May but there’s time still to be as fit as I want to be for the Olympics. The key is to be disciplined when the boot comes off and not rush it. I’ll be fine for London but not if I have any more setbacks.’
Jonny is taking it all in his stride. ‘He’s injured at this time of the year every year, normally worse than this, and he always ends up winning in the summer so it’s just business as usual,’ he argued. ‘Although we train with a group of good triathletes at the Leeds Unis I still train a lot alone with Al so it’s been a bit strange without him but he’ll be back soon and that’s when we function best.
‘We both know we’re training with the best or second best triathlete in the world, and we push each other, either out on the road or in the pool, or even just to get out of bed when it’s dark, cold and freezing.’
It should not be any of those come August when the Olympic triathlon takes place in and around the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park. The Brownlees have already had a taste of what to expect when they competed in the Olympic test event last summer in front of huge crowds.
‘When they announced our names on the podium we got the biggest cheer of our lives,’ recalled a smiling Alistair. ‘It’s going to be a lot louder this summer. They reckon a million people will be out in the park. That’s not going to do us any harm, is it?’ Indeed not. The race plan will be as always.
‘Finish the swim with both of us around third or fourth,’ Alistair says. ‘Then be part of a small group of cyclists who break away. Then, almost from the start of the running, Jonny and I leave the others behind. We’re particularly good at the start of the run when others suffer initially in their legs from the change from cycling to running.’
‘It’s because of all the fell running we’ve done from an early age,’ added Jonny.
If the dream scenario comes to fruition, and the pair of them are running down the finishing straight together, what then? If Alistair had his way they would hold hands and cross the line together.
‘It’s what the Olympian message is all about, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘In reality it won’t happen. You’d look stupid if you tried it and then one of us won by a vest in a photo finish. Besides, let’s get there first. I’m happy if people see us as favourites, but anything can happen in a triathlon, and I’ve still got to get fit, remember.’
