Born to Run
When that decade-old five-speed gets a bit rusty, the stylish cyclist might want to consider the Colnago Ferrari CF2 Mountain Bike. For a cool $7,000, the bike’s “monocoque high modulus carbon fiber front end frame” should cut your commute down by at least 10 minutes. You can order one at www.hdosports.com, the website of a sporting goods company founded by Alasdair McLean-Foreman, or drop by their retail store in Boston. Of course, McLean-Foreman himself needs no such assistance. He can run from Johnston Gate to Hilles Library in under two minutes.
McLean-Foreman is one of the stars of Harvard’s cross-country and indoor track teams, and a budding sporting-goods entrepreneur. Originally from Bath, England, he took up competitive running at the age of 15, after finishing his first 800 meter race—during his high school’s intramural sports day—in an incredibly fast time of 1:55. He opted to matriculate to Harvard over Oxbridge because British universities do not allow their students the same opportunity to focus on sports. Despite taking last year off and practicing without a coach or team, McLean-Foreman—who will now graduate in 2005—finished in the top 16 last year in the 800 meter British Championships.
“My goal is to run a four-minute mile before graduation,” he says. “Afterwards, I’ll probably return to England, and maybe take some time off to work one-on-one with a coach and really dedicate myself to running.”
McLean-Foreman started his business, which sells high-tech sports equipment, during the summer of 2001. “I like working with design; the company pretty much started as a hobby after my freshman year,” he explains. He has since teamed up with two Harvard grads and former teammates: Kobie Fuller ’02 and Cristof O’Donnell ’01. O’Donnell is a triathlete currently training for the Olympics who will wear the company’s gear as part of a sponsorship deal.
McLean-Foreman recounts his accomplishments in a modest and unfailingly even, polite tone. Aaron C. Barth ’04, McLean-Foreman’s roommate during their freshman and sophomore years, says McLean-Foremean is a stereotypical Brit. “Alasdair is very calm and thoughtful about everything he does,” he says, “but he also has an extremely sharp, subtle British wit.” Barth reports that McLean-Foreman frequently tosses around British slang (“bollocks” is a favorite), and says his natural British accent helped him make FM’s 15 hottest freshmen. “The half-Asian look [his mother is Chinese-Malaysian] and British accent are damn sexy,” Barth notes. “He acted like he was really embarrassed by the whole thing, but I think he really actually liked it.”
Not only Harvard girls agreed with FM’s judgment. “Freshman year I went to Rice with the track team to practice over Spring Break,” McLean-Foreman says with a widening grin, “and we had some fun times.” He’s settled down a bit since then, though—he is currently dating Jennifer Y. Lee ’04.
McLean-Foreman shows his true British colors in his drink of choice. Former teammate Brandon Smith ’04 recalls one track party “where Alasdair, being an 800 meter runner and English, became ecstatic upon being given a 40 that combined both of these stellar qualities—it was none other than the finest malt liquor: Olde English 800. The smile on his face could not be contained.” And, Smith adds, “neither could the redness that flushed his face due to the alcohol he had already consumed.”
After graduation, McLean-Foreman, an economics concentrator, plans to run competitively and take over direct management of HDO Sports. However, it may not be too long before Harvard’s track team imports another star from across the Atlantic—McLean-Foreman’s nine-year-old brother Ian, a promising runner in his own right, has already visited Harvard, and the recruiters need only wait—with bated breath—a brief eight years.