Name: Jay Jarden
Sport: Triathlon/Ultra Marathon
Age Group: 45-49
Hometown: Las Cruces, NM
Number of Years Racing/Competing: 5 years
B.E.S.T. Coach: Coach Ryan Bolton
Racing Career Highlights:
- 5X 50K Ultra Marathon finisher
- 2X top 10th O/A finishes in the Ultra Marathon 50K distance
- Bataan Memorial Death March marathon,2018, 9th A/G, 19th O/A
- 5x 70.3 Finishes
- Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon finisher
- 3X Olympic Distance 1×2nd A/G
- 4x Sprint Distance Tri 1x 2nd A/G
- 2X Ironman
Motto: Commit first, then figure the rest out later.
Jay is a native and lifelong resident of Las Cruces, NM. His main sports growing up were playing soccer, racing BMX, and wrestling. He started working in retail in high school and continued working throughout college @ NMSU where he eventually got a job in the swimming pool industry and has been doing it ever since. In 1999 he opened his own Pool and Spa Company where selling hot tubs and swim spas is the main focus of the business.
Jay has always had a love for the outdoors and archery. He became a licensed hunting guide and spent 10 years or so focusing on bow hunting, guiding and videoing hunts with an outfitter friend and became a member of PSE Archery’s Pro Staff Team where he still hunts and shoots archery. It wasn’t until 2015 that he had some contact with Triathlon though his swim spa manufacturer Master Spas and got the itch to try a Sprint Triathlon @ the City of Lakes Triathlon. Prior to this, he had never swam (other than in his backyard pool), ran any distance or raced period. He had only dabbled in cycling, both road and MTB recreationally. After his first tri, he was hooked and quickly raced a 70.3 later that year. He was introduced to trail running by a group of local trail runners who told him about a 50K Trail run that was happening. He gave it a shot – 50K with 8k of elevation gain was his first run over the half marathon distance and he was hooked. He spent a couple years mainly running Ultras and racing few Triathlons. Over the course of the last few years he has switched his focus to primarily triathlon and has a love of all three sports.
When Jay is not training or working, he and his girlfriend Kelli are usually shooting bows, camping, hunting, or spending time with their two dogs and relaxing in their hot tub!