Lake Placid Ironman - Random

7:00 AM - The start. And you thought WWF 'rasslin' was violent.

Life-guarding the leaders. The only way to avoid the violence was to go out fast.

Pro

Pro

Pro

Pro

Pretty tricky at speed to snag the bag.

Pro Woman ready to snag her feed musette bag

Lake Placid Ironman

Go Speed Racer

Pro woman. She was 31st overall, and the second placed woman. Her marathon portion was 3:03:37. Good grief.

Pro woman

Age Grouper

Great sign!

Approaching the top of Papa Bear Hill for the first time. The woman stoking the tandem (back seat) is blind. She was a finisher as you'll see later in this gallery!

The rider in the foreground is a Pro Class. He is on his second lap of the 56 mile bike course, and is passing a guy in the Clydesdale Category of the 40-45 yr Division who is on his first lap. This is on Papa Bear Hill, the last tough hill coming into Lake Placid after climbing up from Wilmington. The Pro finished 5th overall at 9:10:48. The Clydesdale FINISHED 2440th overall at 16:38:57. You got that, right? He finished an Ironman . . . Chapeau, Big Dude!

90 Degree left turn after cresting Papa Bear. There were cops here slowing the riders!

Male Pro Leader at the time this photo was taken. I think he faded to third.

The run into town along Mirror Lake Drive. High speeds here.

The run into town along Mirror Lake Drive. High speeds here.

Oh my . . .

Burger buns.

_SPT5827

Smile for the photographer!

I think she and the spectators behind her got their costumes from the same shoppe.

Leftover Dutch fans from the World Cup I guess.

This Pro Woman was ALWAYS smiling!

And this one NEVER smiled.

The woman on the left is blind. Her guide (with her eyes closed!) is on the right. She took 14:39:10, but BY DOG she finished an IronMan!! And, by the way, so did her guide. I shot them earlier on the bike course on their tandem.