Team Spotlight - The BATWomen Team

Meet the small and mighty team of The BATWomen (the Bad Ass Triathlon Women) taking on triathlon and proving women are stronger together. Many members have different coaches and race goals, but all have the same mission - as women we have a unique opportunity to support each other in training, racing and life. 

Also, check out their fun tradition to celebrate the longest day of the year.

Team Name: 

The BATWomen (the Bad Ass Triathlon Women)

Number of people on the team: 

11 “core” members with an extended community of 3-4 dozen

Location: 

Portland, Oregon

When & how did the team form? 

After returning from winning ITU Worlds in 2017, Juliet Thompson Hochman assembled five local women she regularly ran into on local and regional podiums to form a team based on the belief that when women train together, everyone gets faster.  

Partnering with Shawn Bostad of (then, Portland-based) Steelhead Coaching, the BATWomen found a home and a strength coach to lead Monday night strength, one of several weekly team practices.

What makes your team successful? 

The strength of The BATWomen is that we train together, supporting each other through difficult workouts and weathering the ups and downs inevitable in a year-round training calendar. It takes time and effort to coordinate work, life and training schedules, particularly as we have different coaches and diverse racing goals. So training together several times a week is key to our success as a cohesive team.  

The BATWomen believe:

• We are Stronger Together
• As women, we have a unique opportunity to support each other, in training, racing and life
• Training and racing triathlon is wickedly fun and a lifestyle choice
• In hard work, pushing ourselves, and pushing each other
• In levity, laughter, good food, risk-taking, and quietly taking on all competitors

Advantages of being on the team? 

The BATWomen do not expect every woman to be a rock star in every discipline. We have found, however, that the power of the team raises the game of all the individuals engaged. All of the BATWomen have shown performance gains during their first year of training with the team by virtue of the fact they are surrounded by supportive women striving for excellence. Besides the inevitable improvements in training and race results, it’s just a lot more fun training together.

Do you host camps? 

We don’t host camps, but we host numerous training weekends in Hood River and training events throughout the year in Portland.

What does your team do for fun? 

We celebrate First Friday every month when the new Salt and Straw ice cream flavors come out with pizza at Life of Pi followed by ice cream for all. 

We get together quarterly for Mexican food to discuss team developments and a review of what’s going well and what we could do better. We have holiday White Elephant potlucks and an annual dinner to thank our supporters and friends. We volunteer at local multi-sport events. We organize a spring training weekend in Bend or elsewhere. We regularly get together for movies, game nights, karaoke and dog walks!

What are a few of the team’s top achievements? 

Our biggest achievement is creating an unconditionally supportive and relentlessly fun triathlon community for women (and our wonderful male supporters!) in Portland. We’ve also taken our exuberance for triathlon to the podium consistently since the team’s inception two years ago:

• Four BATWomen have taken their pro card 
• BATWomen have won age group Ironman and 70.3 championships at Victoria, Whistler, Indian Wells, Gulf Coast, Steelhead, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa 
• Team members have won USAT National Championships in Triathlon, Duathlon and Aquabike and ITU Worlds in Duathlon 
• BATWomen have finished top ten at XTERRA and 70.3 Worlds; won Swim-Run events, regional 50Ks and bike races; and regularly race local events to support and inspire our community (and because they’re just a lot of fun!)

What do your team members like about Zealios? 

The BATWomen love Zealios! We love that Sun Barrier sunscreen doesn’t feel greasy or cloy on our hands and that it still protects us in the water and through buckets of sweat. 

Zealios shampoo and conditioner do a beautiful job daily post-swim, removing damaging chemicals and helping us look like normal, un-chlorine-y smelling people in our professional lives.  

And the Betwixt chamois cream allows us to stay in the saddle for our looooong weekend rides. Thank you Zealios!

Is the team still accepting members? 

We are always looking for women to join our ranks. Please join reach us through our website at www.batwomenpdx.com or just email team captain, Juliet at jbthochman@gmail.com.

Bonus Question: What is the craziest thing your team does during the year? 

Every June on the weekend closest to the Solstice, we congregate in Hood River with our BAT-friends to celebrate triathlon by training all day on the longest day of the year. Last year we hosted 30 triathletes running 8 miles, biking 103 miles, swimming 2 miles and eating 7 pizzas and 5 pounds of pasta. This epic day ends with a team beer relay as the sun goes down over the Columbia River Gorge.

If you’d like to learn more about The BATWomen Team, reach out to:

Please list contact info for the team: Name: Juliet Thompson Hochman
Email Address: jbthochman@gmail.com
Website: www.batwomenpdx.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/batwomenpdx/