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GL Brown is Having a Bad Hair Year

GL Brown has a distinguished look about him, kind of like Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings.

His silky silver hair – which remarkably has been quite the topic of conversation lately – has grown steadily from just below his ears to down past his shoulders during this past year ... and it’s still growing.

“It’s all Kiely’s fault,” said the 10-year XTERRA veteran, referring to TEAM Unlimited CEO Tom Kiely.  “You know Mr. Ideas!  We’re having this nice conversation up at the lodge at Snowbasin Resort in Utah back in March and out of nowhere he tells me not to cut my hair, grow it until Maui.”

Maui, of course, means XTERRA Worlds – which is not until late October.

“Yeah, he says, don’t you dare cut it and we’ll let the people decide what shape to shave it in at the Paul Mitchell Cut-a-thon in Maui.  We’ll raise a whole bunch of money for Jamie Whitmore and the Challenged Athletes Foundation.”

At first GL laughed it off.  “Terrific idea, I thought, except I sell real estate in Grand Rapids, Michigan, not quite the liberal capital of the world.  Maybe if I lived in Sante Fe or San Francisco, but in Grand Rapids?”

Then GL had an epiphany.  He said he recalled how cool it was a couple years ago when Greg Welch and Chris Legh and Kalei Waiwaiole (the XTERRA announcer) raised a bunch of money by shaving their heads at the Paul Mitchell Cut-a-thon.

“I figured it’s a chance for me to do some good so I told him what the heck, I’m in,” said Brown.  “And now my hair is out of control.  I have to put in a pony tail or wear it in a cap.  If I don’t, I get lost in this silver forest.  At least now I know what my dogs are going through.”

Doing crazy and adventurous things is nothing new for Brown, who started his journey with XTERRA as a 55-year-old in 1998 when his son, professional triathlete Pat Brown, convinced him to do the XTERRA World Championship.

“I did it on a rented bike with standard and no shocks,” said Brown, noting he also had the only bike around that still had a kickstand.  “I remember Dr. John saved my butt, a third of the way through the bike I crashed and separated my shoulder.  He fixed me up and I was able to finish the race, even placed second in my age group.  Of course, there were only two guys in my age group.”

More than 10 years later Brown is still competing and has 50-some XTERRA’s on his resume.  Maui, however, is always special.  “My favorite XTERRA memory is getting to the bike-to-run transition just before the cut-off time and seeing the smile on “Kahuna Dave’s” face when he said, ‘you’re early’.”

This October 25 will mark Brown’s 11th time at XTERRA Worlds, and will certainly be accompanied by another memorable moment.

“My year isn’t complete until I finish that race,” said Brown.   His hair won’t be either.

Follow GL on his journey via Facebook.