Ironman 70.3 World Championships & Miami Man Half Ironman
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16 November 2010
The 2010 triathlon season finally wrapped up this past weekend with GearLink's tri team participating in not one, but TWO half ironman races in different parts of the state! And I'm happy to report that our tri team went out with a big bang!!
Ironman 70.3 World Championship
Jeff Mount and Dan Chechele had the honor of participating in the final edition of the 70.3 World Championship that took place here in Clearwater on Saturday, November 13. As you probably know the course consists of a 1.2 mile swim off of Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach, a nice 56 mile bike course from Clearwater to Trinity and back, and a 13.1 mile run of two laps over Memorial Causeway thru downtown Clearwater and back. The weather and conditions for the race were superb!
Jeff Mount said the event was "one of the best managed triathlons I have ever raced." And he says he felt very fortunate to compete in it prior to the race departing for Las Vegas next year. Jeff had a very fast bike split of 2:27! Despite cramping 4 miles into the run Jeff hung tough to finish with a very solid 5:25:12. Great job Jeff!!
Dan Chechele (aka "Chisel-elli" according to Celia because of his massive chiseled calves) used them to power himself to a blazing 2:13 bike split and then run a 1:39 half marathon!! Dan finished with a superb time of 4:37:52 to take 10th place in his age group! Awesome dude!!
Full race results are available here: http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/worldchampionship70.3/show=tracker&race=worldchampionship70.3&year=2010#axzz15UyvRhPb
Miami Man Half Ironman
David Szen and Ken O'Day made the trip down to Miami to represent GearLink in the Miami Man Half IM on Sunday, November 14. The course consists of a 1.2 mile lake swim, a 56 mile bike through farmland south of Miami, and a 13.1 mile run on paths and trails through the Miami Metro Zoo (complete with the sounds and smells of wild animals). The weather was great, except for a stiff wind that picked up over the morning making for more headwinds than tailwinds on the bike course.
David Szen was determined to set a new PR on the course and handily smashed his previous best by six minutes with a time of 5:10:57!! He had a fast 36 minute swim, a very strong bike split, and a solid run. Clearly the time and effort he put into training paid dividends. Fantastic job David!!
Ken O'Day also sought to set a PR (an admittedly easy task since it was his first half IM). Ken had a good swim (38 minutes) and a strong run (1:41) to finish with a time of 4:54:37 and took 5th place in his age group!!
Full race results are available here: http://www.multirace.com/miamiman/
Let's give all these athletes a big hand for yet another super GearLink performance! It's been a long season and we've had lots of great results all season long so I'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate our entire triathlon team for a job well done. BRAVO!!!
Now it's time to kick back a little, enjoy the upcoming holidays with family and friends, and get in some solid base training to lay the foundation for next season. And if next season turns out anything like this season it will be a another great one, stay tuned!!
Cheers,
Ken
