Ironman Lake Placid

Spent the weekend in Lake Placid, and all day yesterday watching Ironman Lake Placid.

As usual, it was an amazing day, made even more amazing by all the hard work and support provided by the volunteers and people of Lake Placid.

If you ever want to be really inspired by regular people doing incredible things, take the time to spend a day watching an Ironman event from start to finish ... You may never be the same!!!

Congratulations to all the finishers and to those who gave it their all, but came up short of their goal ... you're all Ironmen!!!  

I tried to find some pictures online, to no avail. Did you take any?

What was the most amazing part?

The only pictures I took were from the start.




As for the most amazing part, to me, it's all amazing, though I'd say the highlights can be summarized as follows:

The swim start ... I don't know if there's anything in sports that can compare to the mass start of an Ironman triathlon ... it's simply unreal. Most triathlons feature "wave" starts for safety reasons. Typically about 100 - 150 competitors make up each wave, and they usually wait several minutes between waves. Even with so few people, it can be really scary ... you're getting kicked, slapped, bumped, run over, etc, all while trying to swim and quite frankly, stay afloat and breathe!!! In an Ironman, all 2500 competitors start at once!

The swim finish ... the cutoff time for the 2.4 mile swim is 2 hours and 20 minutes. If you're not out of the water by the cutoff, you're day is over. Spectators usually crowd the beach, urging the final swimmers to the finish. All the kayaks, rescue swimmers, boats, etc. are surrounding these final competitors, encouraging them and helping them to make it to the end. The reception the final swimmer gets from the assembled crowd and the volunteers when he/she leaves the water is amazing.

The bike finish ... the cutoff time for the 112 mile bike ride is 10 hours and 30 minutes from the race start. If you haven't crossed the bike finish by 5:30 pm, you're done. It's crazy to watch the final riders in those last 10 minutes as they coming flying down the hill from behind Lake Placid High School towards the Olympic oval, trying to get there in time. They come in so fast, and they're so exhausted, some of them are unable to, or forget to apply their brakes, or don't get their shoes unclipped. The volunteers literally have to "catch" them!!!

The finish line ... There's nothing that can compare to the expressions on the faces of these athletes as they come down the finish chute and see the finish line. Some are elated, some are relieved and some are just so overcome by emotion, they just break into tears. Cheering people on in the final hours of the race is just a great experience.

Some specific finish line moments this year included two marriage proposals ... a gentlemen who collapsed about 50 yards short of the finish line. The volunteers and medical personnel rushed out to assist him. After several minutes, he brushed them aside and managed to get to the finish line on his own ... and finally, the last finisher, a 70+ year old gentleman ... he was still on Mirror Lake Drive as time was running out and several race officials, and Andy Potts, the professional men's winner of the race, ran out of the oval to try to get him to the finish on time ... they came running back into the oval literally dragging the man draped over their shoulders to the finish line ... I don't know whether he'll get an "official" finish, but either way, he's an Ironman!!!

At the start of the race, as all the competitors were in Mirror Lake waiting for the starting gun, Mike Reilly, the race announcer, addressed the athletes with the following statement: "Ladies and gentlemen, while you're out there on the course today, remember, the only thing you can control is your attitude". Great advice we should all follow in our daily lives!!!

Wow.  The fact that a 70 year old can finish is amazing to me. He is an ironman! They would be dragging the lake for my sorry a##.

Great write-up Face.

Harvey44 wrote

I tried to find some pictures online, to no avail.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise had excellent coverage in their Monday edition, including an extensive photo collection.  Click the link within the article labeled "More Ironman photos."

Raymo40 wrote

Wow.  The fact that a 70 year old can finish is amazing to me. He is an ironman! They would be dragging the lake for my sorry a##.

The oldest finisher was a 76 year old man!!! ... the youngest, a girl who had just turned 18 last month.

There were all sizes, shapes, and ages for the finishers, which just goes to show, if you want something bad enough, and work hard enough, you can accomplish almost anything! I think that for many competitors, that's what Ironman is all about ... accomplishing the "impossible".