When do you retire from a sport? At age 60, 70, 80?
Glen Haven resident Eileen Croissant, who completed three sprint triathlons last summer at age 86, tried retiring from the sport at age 60, but at age 70, this 5’2,” 93-pound dynamo picked up her goggles, bike helmet, and running shoes for another 16 years, and she is still going.
Croissant preferred Olympic triathlons throughout her career. That includes a one-mile swim, a 26-mile bike ride, and a 6.2-mile run.
Then in the fall of 2024, she ran her last Olympic triathlon and is now “only” competing in sprint triathlons, which include a half-mile swim, a 12.5-mile bike ride, and a 3.1-mile run. To be clear, she has never tried an Ironman triathlon.
She estimates that she has completed 150 triathlons (sprint and Olympic) over the past 30 years.
What does her doctor say? Her cardiologist said, “Send me a picture when you cross the finish.” But some doctors have said, “You have to realize you’re in your 80s.” Her response, “I know how old I am!”
She did have a scare in September 2024, while running the last part of a National Championship Olympic Triathlon in Atlantic City, N.J. Participants have their age written on their calves, so people knew how old she was, and, perhaps, that’s why the race director seemed to be paying special attention to her.
During the last half of the run, she realized something was wrong because she was uncharacteristically running out of steam, but she was determined to finish.
She stopped to hold onto a traffic cone on the course, and at that point, the race director called the medics.
When they joined her on their bikes during the final miles of her run, she said, “I’m finishing this!” And they replied, “We’re here to make sure you do.”
For the rest of the race, they rode next to her and engaged her in conversation, which helped her finish, she said.
After that race, her doctor discovered that she had an 80 percent blockage in the artery to her kidney, and she had surgery for a stent in January 2025.
That’s when she decided to no longer participate in Olympic triathlons, but she continued with sprints.
A most memorable experience for her was competing in the World Triathlon Championships in Chicago in 2015, at the age of 75. The energy during those races was multiplied by “the international crowd yelling in so many languages” and her experience “crossing the finish line with the American flag!”
That world competition was actually two triathlons in two days, and she was on the podium both times. First was the sprint triathlon, where she took first place in her age group and finished in 2:03:26. Then, after one day of rest, she placed third in her age group for the Olympic triathlon with a time of 3:51:35.
Why does she keep competing in these intense races? “I keep asking myself that, too,” she said. “My husband says I’m a very driven person, but I often ask myself when I’m out there, ‘Why am I out here?’”
Surprisingly, Croissant doesn’t consider herself “an athlete.” She says triathlons are all about endurance and pacing. “I can swim and bike, but I never liked running.” Her attitude on the running segment that ends each race is, “Hang on and find the finish line!”
Although she prefers the swimming part to running, she admits that the swimming portion is a “free-for-all,” because you are swimming in open water (Lake Michigan, for example, in the World Championships in Chicago).
“I’ve been swum over, kicked, and knocked around during the swim. There are sometimes 50 to 100 people in the water with you.”
In the open-water swim portion of a National Championship triathlon in Lake Erie, the water was so rough that kayakers were deployed in the water as a safety measure. She heard the kayakers screaming, and she watched a kayaker dive in and retrieve a body. “We lost a swimmer out there.”
Croissant has qualified for USA Triathlon Nationals for more than 10 years straight and has competed in most of those. However, even though she has also repeatedly qualified for World Championships, she doesn’t usually compete there because of the work and cost involved in traveling internationally. She has to pay her own expenses.
Croissant says she was not very athletic as a kid. When choosing teams for gym classes in school, “No one wanted me. I was too slow and, therefore, usually the last one chosen.”
Her message to kids is, “Don’t worry if you’re the last one. Look at me now!”
Although she didn’t start participating in triathlons until her late 40s, she spent a considerable amount of time on her bike. She and her husband, Dick Croissant, often rode from Greeley to Loveland for breakfast and participated in charity bike rides, such as the Multiple Sclerosis 150-mile events.
She and Dick, who is still a runner at age 86, have been married for 61 years. She attributes their good health to a lifetime of eating a healthy diet and says she has been a vegetarian for about 35 years.
Training is a year-round routine. In warm weather, she swims one mile in open water at least twice a week in the Boulder Reservoir or a private lake, bikes 20 to 25 miles after the swim, and runs 4 to 5 miles twice a week.
In winter weather, she trains at the Estes Park Community Center, swimming a mile in the pool once a week and biking on a trainer for an hour, then running outside on Glen Haven roads 4 to 5 miles twice a week.
Born in Beloit, Wis., Croissant spent 20 years working in health clinics and family medicine and 13 years as a CFO.
When will she retire from triathlons for good? She isn’t sure, but she says she’s thinking about it.