Photo Gallery
2008 - High Jumping 5'5" in at a Placer High School track practice. Had I done this in a real meet, the height would rank me 13th in the USA Masters Track&Field for age 40-45 high jumpers. Considering I was not among the top 13 jumpers at Taft High School, the attrition factor is relevant here.
2005 - High Jumping 5'0" in Auburn, equalling my high school PR. As you can see by the performance progression (hit 5'3" in 2007, then 5'5" twice in 2008, then 5'6" in 2010), aging is a myth! Photo by UCSB high jump legend Tara McCullough of Auburn, CA.
2002 - Surfing a 21-foot wave at Mavericks, Half Moon Bay, CA. I do not recommend paddling out in surf this big very often. It can be a little dangerous if you fall. However, I have never fallen.
2001 - Brad enjoys signing autographs for his fans. This fan has not had time to read it yet, but it's only been nine years.
1992 - Triathlete Magazine Cover. Sucking up to magazine staff to finally put me on the cover in year seven of my career cost me alot of pride and self-respect, but it was worth it.
1991 - Eilat, Israel International Triathlon. I beat Triathlete of the Year Mike Pigg in this race by one minute, spoiling his vacation and arguably his whole season. The swim start was only a few hundred meters from the Jordan border, while the run turnaround was a couple kilometers from the Egyptian border. My training run the day before the race went right up to the barbed wire fence Jordan border. Jordanian tower guards recognized me (perhaps from ESPN coverage) and waved and cheered enthusiastically (I couldn't quite make out what they were saying). They finally calmed down when I turned around and headed back to Israeli turf.
1991 - Santa Cruz Sentinel Triathlon. This race was held a week before the world championships. I was in the best form of my career but boycotted the event in Australia because I felt race organizers were disrespecting professionals by slashing the promised purse after winning the hosting bid from the international federation. Later, I teased the race winner/1991 world champion Miles Stewart that I would have beaten him had I traveled to the event. In response, he reflected his Rolex (purchased with endorsement earnings for being world champ) off the sun and shined it into my face, Messin' With Sasquatch style.
1990 - Desert Princess World Championships Duathlon. Note initials carved into side of head. They failed to improve my speed. Exhausted after long season of Pan Am Premier Emeritus club qualification (80,000 miles) - I had a disappointing result in the event I used to "own" - as they say on the playground or the transition area.
1989 - Hawaii layover during flight home from Australia after DNFing at the richest triathlon of all-time, World Cup Australia. It was a long flight but I was entertained by my fellow athletes converting Australian dollars into US to determine how much money they earned at this epic evethe following year I made up for it, tying Scott Tinley for 3rd in the World Cup for ~$8,000. We were only seconds ahead of a huge and fast charging pack of Aussies running 5th - 10th.
1987 - Debut of aerobars in multisport competition, Desert Princess Duathlon, Feb 1987. Fitness legend Johnny G introduced me to the bars about a week before the event. I rode home from his house to mine (2 miles) to test the product, then hit the race course in Palm Springs. I was 18th after the first run and ended the bike ride in 4th, getting lots of strange looks from fellow competitors as I rode by. After the race, Andrew MacNaughton (riding with me in photo on normal bars) got a pair ("Kearns looked so comfortable on the ride it was annoying"). Weeks later Andrew torched Mike Pigg on a half-ironman bike ride en route to his first pro victory - then seven more in succession! Pigg got a pair soon after and then the product spread like wildfire in the multisport community.
1980 - Taft High School Track Meet mile race, 10th grade. Later in my first track season I ran a 4:33 and placed 6th in city finals C division.