PERPETUAL MOTION : Fordianis Travel the World Searching for Various Athletic Challenges
At first glance Bill and Ann Fordiani look much like any Costa Mesa couple trying to stay active as the years go by.
Tan and fit, the Fordianis--62-year-old Bill and 51-year-old Ann--play together in the sports they love: skiing, bicycling, running, kayaking, swimming, hiking, scuba diving . . . the list goes on.
“It’s fun. We love the outdoors,” Bill said. “Anything to be active.”
Their activity has a focus that makes them rare: the Fordianis are world-class age-group multisport athletes. Sunday, they will be competing for titles in their divisions in the Pacific Coast Triathlon at Crystal Cove State Park.
It has been a low-key year for the couple; they have only entered “three or four triathlons.” Last year, they pounded through about 15, including the Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Duathlon (run-bike-run) World Championships in St. Wendel, Germany.
Ann won the bronze medal in the women’s 50-54 age group in duathlon at St. Wendel. Bill finished 27th in the men’s 60-64 division. Ann finished seventh in her division in the triathlon championship in Lausanne.
These are major accomplishments, considering their fitness level before their introduction to multisports 15 years ago.
Bill, getting seriously into snow skiing at the time, decided he needed a way to get into better shape to tackle the moguls that were leaving him out of breath. “I was god-awfully out of shape,” he said.
So he and Ann bought bicycles at a swap meet, trained a bit and tested the waters at the Catalina Triathlon and its half-mile swim, 15-mile bike and 5K run. “We didn’t know what we getting ourselves into,” Bill said.
The wetsuit tops they bought--also at a swap meet--quickly filled up with water and they struggled just to finish the swim, but they managed to complete the race. “We felt good,” Bill said, “because we weren’t the last-place people and Ann actually got a medal in her age group.
“That kind of set the hook.”
Ann remembers thinking during her first 5K: “How can people run twice as far as this?”
But soon she and her husband had built up steam. “One thing led to another,” Ann said, “and now it’s just a way of life.”
Ann, a travel agent, was always searching for competitive outlets. As a junior high school student in Anaheim, she helped her school to the county track and field title. At Anaheim High, she thrived in athletics, although the opportunities for girls were limited then.
As an adult, she played softball on company teams and for seven years she played in a women’s soccer league, but her aggressive play--she was fond of slide tackling opponents--led to injuries.
“I tell friends,” Bill said, “that if Ann were a man and had the same competitiveness, she’d be a linebacker.”
She showed her grit by completing her first 100-mile-plus bike ride and her first marathon in the same weekend. In 1991, the Fordianis swam 4,000 yards in a pool on Friday, rode in the 112-mile Solvang Century on Saturday and ran the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.
“We took the marathon very slowly,” Ann recalled. “But at the halfway point, I told Bill I felt pretty good and I’d see him at the end. I went out harder and did well for the next 10 miles but with two miles to go I starting thinking, ‘Oh boy, this is a long way to run.’ ” She gritted it out and finished in a bit more than 4 hours.
Bill, a technical consultant with AirTouch, is no competitive slouch either. For about 15 years he was a serious yacht racer, winning numerous titles in the Newport-to-Ensenada race in his 42-foot ketch. In 1987, he and his younger brother Rich chartered a boat and set a record in a San Francisco-to-Hawaii race, Fordiani said. Ann also sailed, racing with some all-women crews.
These days, however, the Fordianis like their recreation more aerobic. They spend 15 to 20 hours a week training for triathlons and duathlons. And on the rare weekends when they are not competing, you might find them climbing mountains. They are attempting to reach the highest points in all 50 U.S. states and 58 California counties.
They try to knock off summits in bunches, for instance flying to Atlanta and driving to hikes in six or seven states. They started with California’s Mt. Whitney (14,494 feet) and have completed all but two (Granite Peak in Montana and Mt. McKinley in Alaska) on the state list. They are three short of finishing the California county list.
Typically, the Fordianis are attacking the effort with gusto: sometimes mountain biking, sometimes running, never strolling.
“If the guidebooks say the hike will take about three hours,” Bill said, “ we say, ‘Well that’s b.s. We’re going to set a new standard.’ ”