After spending almost a decade in Colorado chasing a dream, a triathlete is making the 2,000-mile journey home to Northern Virginia on foot.
Collin Chartier, a Fairfax native and 2017 Marymount graduate, was once a top-15 ranked triathlete in the United States until a three-year doping suspension in 2023 abruptly halted his professional career. He’s now charting a new path in hopes of helping others — involving an extended charity run across much of this country.
He began on June 13 and expects to pass through Arlington on Aug. 30.
“A lot of people try to go back to the sport and prove people wrong,” Chartier said. “But I recognize how tempting and dangerous that is, for me to be all consumed on performance again. I can own my mistakes, I can choose the self forgiveness and then try to make the world a better place.”
Along his journey, the 32-year-old ran east through Kansas and continued across Indiana and Pennsylvania. He’s currently somewhere in Maryland, and when he gets to Northern Virginia, he’s inviting locals to come run the final stretch with him on the W&OD trail.
Chartier plans to start running at Reston Town Center at 9 a.m. that Sunday and finish at the Lincoln Memorial at 1 p.m.
In cities like Pittsburgh, Chartier has stopped to hold events and run with recovering addicts. He’s raised almost $100,000 along the way for the Herren Project, a nonprofit that specializes in addiction support services and recovery.
“This isn’t just another thing to check off to make me feel better,” Chartier said. “This is something I can do in service to others.”
Chartier’s career as a triathlete began as a student at Marymount, where he was part of the first varsity triathlon team in the country. After graduating, he went pro and quickly found success — winning an Ironman race in Cartagena in 2019. He later won the PTO US Open in Texas and another Ironman in Mont Tremblant, Canada in 2022.
In 2020, Chartier was fifth in Olympic qualifying, three spots short of qualifying to go to Tokyo. He said missing the Olympics furthered a damaging mindset that impacted him throughout his career as a professional.
“The pressure is interesting,” Chartier said. “I think it comes from a lack of seeing the progress I’ve made, because, in my mind, nothing’s ever enough. There were all these reasons to see how I wasn’t good enough, because that was really fueling the drive to keep moving.”
In 2023, Chartier tested positive for a banned substance — erythropoietin, or EPO — which artificially boosts red blood cells and increases the body’s capacity for oxygen. He received a three-year suspension from the International Testing Agency, and he says backlash in the triathlon community was significant.
“I didn’t grow up wanting to be a cheater,” Chartier said. “I do recognize what I did in the past was bad. That was breaking the rules, and it caused harm to the sport.”
Now, Chartier’s suspension is over, but he says he won’t be returning to professional triathlon. Instead, he wants to use his experience to help other athletes and others who are struggling.
“I want to be plugged into being a coach, helping other people who were in my position, or helping anyone, whether that’s in recovery or coaching other professional athletes,” Chartier said.
After he completes his run, Chartier said he’s excited to be reunited with family and friends, and he’s hosting a celebration at Virginia Highlands Park in Arlington that he says anyone is welcome to attend.
“I’m really excited to see people,” Chartier said. “I haven’t seen them in a very long time.”
