James Harkness was a member of the Class of 1985 of Delaware Valley High School. Although he moved to the district during his high school years from Indiana, he excelled quickly, being named co-captain of the soccer team and being selected to the All State Team his senior year. After high school he coached soccer at Steamboat Springs High School in Colorado. While in Colorado he began training for and entirely new sport, Triathlon. Consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mike bike race and a 26.2 mile run, Triathlon or Ironman Competition if one of the most grueling of all sports.
Although he was, at best, a novice swimmer when he began, Jim rose rapidly to world class status. He has competed in the Canadian Championships in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 and the United States Championships in 2001 and 2002. His results qualified him for the 2001 World Championships of Hawaii in 1999, 2001 and 2002. In the 2001 USA Championships he finished 4th in his age group and 30th overall with a combined time of 9 hours and 47 minutes.