On July 24th, 2011 NEMSers Colin Cook, Adam Crowley, Greg Voyentzie, and Nancy Epstein competed in Ironman Lake Placid in Lake Placid, NY. The heat wave was suppose to subside the day before the race and all the competitors were looking forward to a cooler day. The weather was cool the morning of the race, but the day started off with some complications when competitors found out that the water was too warm for the race to be wetsuit legal. The majority of competitors still wore wetsuits, but this made them ineligible for age group awards and Kona slots.
The First NEMSer to cross the finish line was Colin Cook. Colin did not wear a wetsuit during the swim, but was very happy with his effort for the day. He finished in 10:34:01, earning him 113th overall out of the 2902 total competitors and 11th in his age group. This was a PR by over 6 minutes for Colin.
The most amazing story of the day was Adam Crowley. Despite his rear derailleur braking at mile 104 on the bike, Adam was still able to finish thanks to a fellow competitor. While on the side of the road with his broken bike, another competitor with a fracture in his foot that did not intend to run the marathon due to his injury (but had no idea who Adam was), offered Adam his bike and allowed Adam to complete the last 8 miles of the bike. Despite all this, Adam still finished in 12:12:16 for 814th overall, 111th in his age group to become an Ironman for the first time.
Next to cross the finish line was Gregory Voyentzie. Greg had a great day and was able to motivate a friend to keep pushing after he was ready to call it quits on the marathon. He finished the race with his friend in a very respectable time of 13:14:21, which put him in 1331th overall and 286th in his age group. Congrats on becoming an Ironman Greg!
Nancy Epstein was the next NEMSer to cross the finish line. Nancy had a very impressive day and did a fantastic job staying disciplined throughout the race. As a result, Nancy was able to obtain her goal of finishing the race in 14 hours. Nancy finished in 14:00:51, placing her 1706 overall, and 65th in her age group to officially become an Ironman!
NEMS would also like to give a special thanks to members Chad Quinlan and Dan Dugan for volunteering during the event. We look forward to helping them train as they prepare to do the race in 2012!
Congrats to all 4 finishers! They all did a great job and their hard work paid off. Here is a link to the video of them crossing the finish line:
In other racing, NEMS member Chris Veilleux raced a sprint up in Shelburne, Vermont over the weekend. Despite the heat, Chris PRed and placed 23rd overall with a time of 1:18:15. Great job Chris!