Gruppo Sportivo Tenzing: The Story Behind the Name:
On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first two people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Although Hillary was part of Colonel John Hunt’s expedition, as the team had drawn within 300 feet of the summit, Hunt directed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to scale the final 300 feet to the summit. Hillary describes reaching the summit: “A few more whacks of the ice axe in the firm snow, and we stood on top.”
Although Hillary is credited as reaching the summit first, neither one would have made it without the assistance of the other. As a matter of fact, without Tenzing, Hillary would not have been there to plant his feet on the summit. Hillary had fallen into a crevasse, and as he was quickly heading for a meeting with the bottom, Tenzing grabbed Hillary’s safety rope, slammed his ice axe into the ice, and tied Hillary’s rope to it.
Colonel Hunt, after incessant pestering by journalists to declare who was the first of the two to stand on the summit, stated “They reached it together, as a team.” Just as Hillary described their summit, he did not credit himself with being the first, but rather declared that the team stood on top.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay remained friends for the remainder of their lives.
It is with this premise, this team cohesion, this sharing the credit of success, which Gruppo Sportivo Tenzing was founded in 2003.
GS Tenzing formed thirteen years ago as a way to capture the camaraderie, challenge, and excitement that can only be accomplised through the shared suffering and sacrifice towards a common goal. At various points in the team’s history, those goals have been as modest as finishing the local group ride to as lofty as competing at national championships.
Today the team is primarily comprised of businessmen and family men who take their training and racing seriously. Many of our team members have backgrounds as elite athletes – collegiate runners, football players, swimmers, and one international elite track cyclist.
Team members have featured in a myriad of road and track national championships, including podium finishes. Team members have developed national caliber junior cycling squad that produced 19 USA Cycling National Championship medals, 1 national championship, and a future European professional. Team members will compete in and promote races as large and diverse as the following: Telluride 100, Tulsa Tough, Dirty Kanza, USAC Masters Road Championships, Leadville trail 100, Joe Martin Stage Race, Austin Rattler, Gateway Cup, Firecracker 50 and many others.
This team has grown into one of the most well respected and long-lived teams in Texas. We attribute this to our founding premise of team cohesion, our focus on high-quality partnerships, and our tight policy regarding team member selection. Our goal is not to create the winningest team but the team that strives for the highest ideals of sport – we believe wins will come as a result, and they have.