However, in the case of former Queenstown mountain running star Jack Beaumont, it’s the academic sideline that took over when he took up a track and cross country scholarship to the University of North Texas in 2017.
The Northern Southland-raised 27-year-old, who was back in town for Christmas, hanging out with grandparents Ali and Carl Beaumont, won back-to-back New Zealand senior mountain running champs, a 3000 metre NZ steeplechase title and had a best result of 13th in the world mountain running champs.
In 2017 he also set the record time — 2hr 37min 51sec — for the Routeburn Classic, over the Routeburn Track, which still stands, and he also held the record for the original Queenstown Parkrun course for its first 19 months.
"I was very consistent in those couple of years I was in Queenstown. It’s the perfect playground for runners."
Jack says in his first year in Texas he held top spot in his college team but was injured the following year.
While there he completed undergraduate and master’s degrees in finance, graduating top in the latter.
And in his final year he was also a teaching assistant, while still running.
For the past two years he’s had three high-up corporate jobs in Dallas, Texas, and this month takes up a five-month professorship at his old university in real estate and finance.
Jack acknowledges it was only through running he got the opportunity to excel in the academic world. He sees a correlation between the two, the latter requiring "that same drive, that same motivation and dedication that you have to have in sport".
Jack says he nowadays just runs for enjoyment — "whether it’s going for a run or at the gym, I still work out".
And, referencing the fact he lives in a city of 8million people, he adds: "People complain about traffic in Queenstown, I’m like, this is nothing compared to Dallas."
