Athlete Profile: Nancie Battaglia

by Jennifer Duffield White

For Nancie Battaglia, her job as a freelance photographer is often a workout in itself, whether she’s on the slopes of Whiteface Mountain photographing a World Cup ski event or taking a day-long canoe trip with friends, 35 pounds of camera equipment in tow.

And even today, as we plan a time and a place for an interview, Nancie prefers to be on the move; so we’ve chosen to pack our skis and our dogs into our cars and meet at the Peninsula Trails in Lake Placid.

You’ve likely seen Nancie’s photo credits on pictures in Adirondack Sports & Fitness to Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Adirondack Life, The New York Times or any other number of publications. However, you’re also likely to see her name in race results for running, skiing and triathlon races throughout the region.

Nancie won’t brag about her long list of races, or even her age-group placings, but she’s accomplished and continues to run strong. Among the events she’s finished lately are the Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon, the Adirondack Marathon, the Prospect Mountain Road Race, the Whiteface Uphill Foot Race, the Lake Placid Kort-Loppet (25K), and a multitude of half marathons. She’s also a familiar face at the Lake Placid Monday Night Mini-Triathlons put on by High Peaks Cyclery each week in the summer and at the Sunday Series cross-country ski races at the Verizon Sports Complex.

“I kind of lead dual lives,” says Nancie, explaining that some people only know her for her photos of typical Adirondack scenery, while others only know her as a winter Olympic photographer. It was the 1980 Olympics that brought Nancie to the region, when, not long after she graduated from Syracuse University, she was hired as the chief still photographer for the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Organizing Committee.

Sports have always been part of her life. While growing up in Geneseo, she participated in basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball and cheerleading, and physical education was her favorite class. Her move to Lake Placid opened up more opportunities, and over the years she’s built an athletic resume that includes nearly as many sports as her collection of stock photos. Today, Nancie can’t even say that she has a primary sport. “I enjoy it all,” she says.

With an ever-varying work schedule, Nancie doesn’t reserve time for regimented training. Instead, she has a go-with-the-moment attitude and admits she even enters most races last minute. When the Vermont City Marathon rolls around each year, her friends know she’s the person they can call two days before the race and cajole into running a leg of the team relay.

As a freelance photographer, “my day changes every time the phone rings,” she explains. But in this case, work still means getting exercise. “My job keeps me pretty active,” Nancie says, as she fluidly poles her way up a hill on skis. When she isn’t out on assignment, she’s usually in the field gathering stock shots during a canoe trip, a hike or backcountry ski trip. With much of her recreational time also falling into the work category, Nancie considers the races she enters lots of fun, and they even give her a sense of freedom: “I don’t have to lug 35 pounds of camera equipment around,” she laughs.

As if her job isn’t activity enough, Nancie credits her golden retriever, Shea (who, as we speak, pulls a 6-foot branch from the woods and starts trotting down the trail with it), for keeping her in good condition. While Nancie’s job requires continual flexibility, morning and evening exercise for the dogs is a daily ritual. (Currently, Shea is the only dog in residence, but Nancie and her husband generally have two.) They often take morning runs together, and the dogs even get to tag along on a lot of Nancie’s “working” adventures, whether on foot or in a boat.

While a free-wheeling attitude gets the job done and keeps her fit, certain races still require preparation. She notes that when she commits to doing a longer race, like a marathon or a longer triathlon, her husband will be the voice urging her out the door to get some longer training runs or rides in. She also uses local century and half-century bike rides to get in the miles.

When Nancie decided to enter her longest triathlon to date – the Tupper Lake Tinman – she knew she’d have to put some work into her swimming, so she took lessons and swam indoors over the winter months to get herself ready. Once the swim course buoys appeared in Mirror Lake last June, she borrowed a wetsuit from a friend and set out to make sure she could swim the whole mile. When race day rolled around in Tupper Lake, the weather proved to be her favorite – cool conditions – and her race went off without a hitch.

If you’ve ever watched Ironman USA in Lake Placid, you may have seen Nancie riding on the back of a motorcycle (often facing backwards), snapping shots of the athletes. When asked if there’s any chance we’ll see her in the field with a number someday, she said, “It’s certainly in the back of my head.” But she won’t make any promises, noting that the Ironman distance would require her to dedicate more hours to structured training than she does right now.

For now, Nancie is content to take advantage of every adventure that comes her way: a ski trip from Tahawus to the Adirondak Loj, the Kort-Loppet, and perhaps another Tinman triathlon this year. She even jumped into a 10K speed skating race on the oval in Lake Placid in January, with her 30-year-old figure skates!

As we near the parking lot on our return, Nancie points down the trail in the opposite direction, suggesting we go just a bit further. Five minutes later, I point to the Ridge trail; and, without hesitation, Nancie takes the turn. “We might as well take advantage of the daylight,” she says. And I get the sense that, in Nancie’s eyes, this living in the moment is life as it should be.

Jennifer Duffield White, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Lake Placid where she takes advantage of the great hiking, skiing, mountain biking, running and other Adirondack activities.