Hi folks,

Mike Whaley and I represented for the SVR at the inaugural Beach 2 Battleship iron-distance triathlon in Wilmington, NC on Nov. 1. Mike is now an Ironman (though it was a SetUp event, not an "Ironman" event -- as Mike told me, "I'm not going to let Ford tell me if I'm an Ironman or not.") Mike's time was 12:55:21 which was WAY better than respectable for his first iron-distance race.

I guess I'm a third of an ironman as I only did a relay, but it was my first time doing a time trial of 112 miles and I'd say it went pretty well. I teamed with Dr. David Bridges of Greenwood and Cameron Dorn of Waterloo (and a Lander student). There were 25 teams doing the full iron distance and we pretty much crushed the field. Our time of 8:39:16 beat the second place team by almost two hours. Dr. Bridges had a blistering swim of 48:04. I covered the bike course faster than any other rider, individual or relay. I posted a 4:31:33 bike split ... 24.75 mph. And Cameron, running his first-ever marathon, closed things out with a 3:16:33 marathon. (This kid is a freak of nature.) It was a 2-loop run course and Cameron was so far ahead of all the other competitors that, as he was trying to enter the finishing chute, a volunteer literally grabbed him and tried to force him into the turnaround to head back out on the second loop again. Dr. Bridges and I were standing right there and we almost took the poor volunteer's head off. Cameron was a bit dazed at that point and I think he might have headed back out if we hadn't intervened.

Most triathlons start in "waves" and relays usually go near the end. I do lots of relays and I'm used to hitting the bike course with the entire field ahead of me. This race was a mass start. Since Dr. Dave was so fast, I hit the bike course with only five riders ahead of me. After 10 miles I was alone off the front and I took over the motorcycle escort from the lead rider. MOTORCYCLE ESCORT!!!! I've never had a motorcycle escort before. That was really cool. They stayed right behind me for the entire course. And I was the first rider into T2. I heard the PA announcer announce my name as I rode in and there were hundreds of cheering spectators. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The individual winner was a pro from Denmark. He paced just far enough behind me and the motorcycle so as not to get a penalty and he stayed there for 70 miles before I drank my little bottle of Boost and got the boost I needed to pull away from him. He finished about 3 1/2 minutes behind me.

It was SO COLD! I had no plans to stop for anything and I wanted to go all out. So I had to dress for a start that was around 40 degrees and a finish that was pushing 70. I just froze at the start so I could be comfortable at the end. At least I didn't have to come out of the water.

That's Dr. Bridges on the left and Cameron on the right in the photo. I'm in the middle.

Bob Chambers