Pope: Wright earns spot in Macon Sports Hall of Fame

In sports jargon, Anne McBrearty Wright would be considered a late bloomer into the athletic world. She attended high School at Mount de Sales when it was in the transition from an all girls school to a a co-ed institution and outside of physical education classes, there was virtually no athletic competition for girls.

During her senior year, Wright was on the first girls basketball team at Mount de Sales, but the team only played two games the entire season, taking on Pacelli in a pair of contests, one in Columbus and one in Macon. She didn’t come from an athletic family, as none of her six sisters or three brothers were athletes.

So how does she qualify for induction into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame where she will go in Thursday night? She got started running for fitness in 1970 along with her husband, oral surgeon Dr. Robert Wright. They ran 60 to 70 miles per week. Stress fractures forced her to change exercises in the mid-1970s, and she turned to swimming and then added bike riding. Put all three together -- running, swimming and bike riding -- and you have the makings of a triathlete. Following the birth of her third child, she got into the grueling triathlon competition in a big way and was a standout in the sport for more than four decades.

During her career, she took part in triathlons that ranged from the sprint to the Ironman. The sprint consists of a 750-meter swim, a 20K bike ride and a 5K run, while the Ironman is made up of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112 mile bicycle ride and a 26.2 mile marathon. Anne competed in five Ironman competitions, one in Florida, one in Rhode Island and three at the World Championships in Kailua, Kona, in the Hawaiian Islands. In addition to her triathlons, she won or placed in more than 30 marathons.

Wright was ranked first, second or third in the nation by the USA Triathlon every year beginning with the 35- to 39-age group until she retired from competition in 2013. She has been recognized as a national Long Course Masters champion, a Southeast Region Masters Champion and a Southeast Region Age group champion and has been selected 13 times as an All-America Triathlete. She also has been a member of the Team USA. She has a time of 11.27:15 at the Ironman World Championships in 1989. Wright has won or placed overall in her age group in over 140 multi-sports events.

In addition to her athletic accomplishments, she holds a nursing degree from Atlanta’s St. Joseph’s School of Nursing, as well as a bachelors' degree and masters' and a Ph.D from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. She and her husband are now both retired, living in Sarasota, Florida.

Seven other individuals will be inducted into the Macon Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday. They include Mercer baseball head coach Craig Gibson, former Stratford football head coach Rodney Collins, former Southwest and Kentucky State basketball standout Lewis “Bubba” Linder, golf volunteer Gene McClure, cross country and track and field coach Chad McDaniel, former Willingham and Florida State football star Ron Wallace and Southwest football head coach Joseph Dupree, who played the sport at Georgia and Georgia Southern.

Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com

This story was originally published May 4, 2015 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Pope: Wright earns spot in Macon Sports Hall of Fame."