Ray Barrios
Director of Racing
ray@latriclub.com

"Riptide" Ray Barrios joined the Board in '08. However, since '06 he has been active with the Social Committee and an enthusiastic race volunteer. Who hasn't befriended Ray after meeting him at an event or training with him?

Ray, a runner with over 15 marathons under his belt, turned to triathlon in April '05 inspired by his brother Gerardo, himself an LATCer and Ironman. Gerardo taught Ray his first swimming strokes and the rest (including his moniker) is history!

He has completed two 70.3/half races and several other triathlons, and he is training for Ironman Arizona in '08. The Santa Barbara Triathlon and Nautica Malibu Triathlons are among of his favorite triathlons.

Ray is as big of a fan of LATC members as he is a fan of the sport. When he is not racing, Ray thoroughly enjoys helping out at races, hooting and hollering for all LATCers during the races, and cheering in every last one of them at the finish. He is particularly supportive of newbies and those of us who struggle for personal bests because he himself has struggled with the swim (a good riptide or two changes your perspective on life) and is always working to improve his biking abilities.

In '07, Ray took up another endurance sport, ultramarathon, inspired by both the documentary "Running On The Sun: The Badwater 135" and the Ultramarathon Man himself, Dean Karnazes. Running side-by-side with Karnazes at the '07 Catalina Eco Marathon, even if it was for a few minutes, has been one of the highlights of his running career. For Ray, it is not the challenge of enduring so many miles but the level of closeness to his family, community, and the surrounding natural beauty of abundant trails, the byproducts of running so much. Ray completed his first two 50K races in '07, and has immensely enjoyed the challenging Bulldog 50.

In addition to taking on his responsibilities as a Board Member in '08 and training for his first Ironman, Ray hopes to continue training for ultramarathons, and run the Western States 100 and Badwater in the future. Running the Boston Marathon is not far from his radar.

If anyone needs to run a long way, get in touch with "Riptide" Ray at Ray@LATriClub.com, for a training run or to help you secure a discount at your favorite race!