Safavi is a finance and marketing professor and a veteran captain of the Ski to Sea team Diminishing Returns. The team is comprised almost entirely of students and faculty from the College of Business and Economics.

While some Ski to Sea teams comprised of Western students and faculty have come and gone, Diminishing Returns has competed for 18 years.

Diminishing Returns is named after an economic term referring to an investment that is less productive year after year, but it is also a joke about the aging faculty on the team, said Safavi with a smile.

“Some come (to Ski to Sea) to compete, some come for fun,” Safavi said. “We come for philosophy.”

The team was originally created to spread the message that a healthy body is necessary to respond to the demands of life and a career in the business world. One of the demands is having the energy to work late at night and into the next day. To succeed in business, a person cannot solely rely on business skills alone – they need to keep up their physical stamina, Safavi said.

If he was in charge, he would require all students majoring in business and economics to take one PE class per quarter, he added.

Safavi started as a runner for the team in 1993 and became captain the next year. Seventeen years later, he is still captain and still competing. Diminishing Returns has participated in Ski to Sea since 1992, except in 2004 when Safavi took a leave of absence from Western.

The team also challenges the idea that faculty is lazy, or “made of dead wood,” as Safavi put it. He exercises year-round to maintain his physical prowess and prepare for Ski to Sea. He has been running three miles and lifting weights at the Wade King Student Rec Center every other day.

While Safavi has been a Ski to Sea participant for 18 years, the majority of his team is competing for the first time. To find teammates, he sent a mass email to students and staff in the College of Business and Economics.

“He’s a unique guy,” said Jared Worthen, a Western senior and current teammate of his. “He’s very passionate about marketing and Ski to Sea.”

Worthen is one of the two canoe rowers on the team, along with his roommate, Bryce Hermansen.

To help them train, Hermansen bought a $300 canoe on Craigslist. The duo has been practicing for their leg of the race occasionally for the past few weeks.

Visiting professor at Western and Diminishing Returns’ cross-country skier, Kendall Whitney, said he goes to Mount Baker once a week to train for his leg in the event. Although he has not practiced on the actual Ski to Sea course yet, he believes he is prepared.

Safavi, although unwilling to reveal his age, is quite a bit older than his youthful teammates. This does not deter his attitude, but there is one thing that does.

“It kills my spirit when a high schooler runs by me in the race and says, ‘Good job,’” Safavi said.

When this happens, he politely replies, “Thank you,” or sometimes, “It’s not over yet.”