Ford Ironman Lake Placid
- Welcome to Ford Ironman Lake Placid. Heading into the 13th year of the oldest Ironman on the mainland United States, we're looking forward to an exciting day of racing.
- It was another hot and humid day in Lake Placid (mid to high 80’s most of the day) but that did not sap the energy of the athletes in town. The Ironman buzz is in the air and the presence is unmistakable.
It all started this morning with the athletes taking a dip in Mirror Lake.
This is a great vantage point of what the athletes will see on race day. Straight out towards the grass clearing off in the distance, and right back in towards the beach. Then back out again for lap two.
Going through registration with just a few of the over 3900 friendly volunteers who contribute to making everyone's day successful. Make sure to thank the volunteers.
Purchasing the photo package at ASI (Action Sports International) – all the photos you see here are courtesy of ASI. www.asiorders.com
The Olympic Skating Oval, site of the Expo, is busier than I’ve ever seen it in all of my 13 years coming to this event. Without question, the Ironman Merchandise Tent is the busiest place on site.
Ford, our title sponsor, and their sleek booth with their latest vehicles, the Ironman Video Message Center, and Motivational Message Station where family members and friends can leave messages for their athletes to see that message out on the run course.
Another busy area of the Expo. Lots of athletes are renting race wheels to save precious time. Maybe those savings might get them their coveted Kona slot or a personal best.
PowerBar – the official on course nutrition.
Athletes getting a pre-race body tune-up at the Active Release Therapy tent.
Lots of stuff for the Ironkids - Clowns, snow cones, balloon animals,face painting, and more thanks to the North Country Ministries.
Oh yeah, did I mention shopping?
The Friday Press Conference. From left to right. Alex Gonzalez, Luke Bell, Ben Hoffman, TJ Tollakson, Heather Wurtele, Tyler Stewart
Ben Hoffman - Ford Ironman Lake Placid defending champion. Provided that we have favorable weather conditions on Sunday (temperatures are projected to drop into the 70’s after being in the mid to high 80’s all week), Hoffman plans to make an assault on Simon Lessing’s course record (8:23:12 - 47:08 swim, 4:44:23 bike, 2:46:39 run).
“I feel I am in the best position that I’ve ever been in my life to potentially take down that record so I’m going to give it a go,” said Hoffman. "I coming in with good form and I feel ready mentally.”
Before coming to Lake Placid, Hoffman joked with Lessing (coaches his swim workouts in Boulder) that he will take down his record. We will have to wait until Sunday to see if that happens.
We know that TJ Tollakson can ride, but he also proved at Ford Ironman St. George that he could run too (even after suffering and stopping at the side of the road on the run course and almost dropping out of the race) with a 2:58:02 marathon. He will be one to watch. Especially keep an eye out for his unique bike position, he will be hard to miss.
Australian Luke Bell has made some changes to the way he trains. Most significantly, he has reduced his training volume to half to what he used to do. Instead of feeling zapped at the six-hour mark at races, he now feels more refreshed late into the race. That will serve him well on this double loop course where significant time can be made up during the second lap of the bike and run.
Canadian Heather Wurtele, two-time Ford Ironman St. George champion, loves tough courses so this course is right up her alley.
“It is definitely challenging, but there is no one big climb, it is just rolling throughout where you have to keep the pressure on. It is a different tough than St. George.”
Expect her to stay within herself and race according to her own plan. If need be, she will allow herself to race the end of the bike and race the end of the run. And while her husband Trevor is back home and training in British Columbia in preparation for Subaru Ironman Canada, she will still have family support here.
“I wanted to defend my title at St. George, Kona is the focus, but this is a race that I’ve always wanted to do. My brother and his family live in Ottawa so they will be coming down to see me race.”
Tyler Stewart – 2009 Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene Champion, and holder of the fastest Ironman women’s bike split (4:42:40) will race her own race on Sunday.
“If you try to race someone else’s race it usually is to your detriment,” said Stewart. “It would be very easy for me to go out and hammer the bike course, but then it leaves me in a bad place for the run.”
“I just go out there and do my own thing. I do the first lap easy, hold on for second lap, and I never think about out biking anybody or breaking bike course records. I get off and do what I can for the run.”
“I had no idea,” said Stewart about her record setting bike split at Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas. “Honestly, I rode at a perceived effort at 5 or 6 out of ten the whole time. It just happened to be a great day for me on the bike”
Alex Gonzalez used to weigh 265 lbs. Going up a flight of stairs used to be a major chore for Alex, but he turned his life around and shed 100 pounds.
"I have a beautiful wife and I had everything going for me, except I looked like crap and I felt like crap."
He will celebrate that accomplishment by racing and crossing the finish line on Sunday.
Mike Reilly (The Voice of Ironman) and Tara Costa (of Biggest Loser fame) at the start of the Kids Fun Run at Mirror Lake.
Ready to start the Kids Fun Run.
They're off!
Mike Reilly cranks up the energy at the Welcome Dinner.
The Iron Friar has finished every since race here at Lake Placid.
The Adirondack Medical Center receiving a $5000 contribution from the Ironman Foundation. Our athletes will receive a ton of race support from these local professionals.
Tim Burke, two-time Olympic biathlete, accepting a $5000 contribution on behalf of the Uihlein Ironman Sports Fund (www.generousact.org).
Some of our youngest and oldest competitors. Shirley King (65), Matthew Griffith (18), Kurt Kahl (74), and Jared Masarek (18).
Tom and Kathy Lindsay of Fort Collins, Colorado. They are one of our many married Iron couples doing the race this weekend. They are also first timers, and we’ll have 1013 first time Ironman racers on Sunday.
By the way, take notice of their Blazeman Warrior shirts. More on the Blazeman Foundation later.
Matt Long, author of “The Long Run” and finisher here at the 2009 Ford Ironman Lake Placid, gave an entertaining and inspirational talk to a captive audience. Find out more about Matt and his I WILL FOUNDATION at www.iwillfoundation.com
Some of Matt's captive audience.
Saturday's Bike and Gear Check-in.
Racked and ready to go for Sunday.
Getting oriented in transition.
- Hoffman returns to defend Ironman Lake Placid Title
This Sunday marks the 13th edition of Ironman Lake Placid, the oldest Ironman race on mainland USA.
Colorado’s Ben Hoffman returns to Village of Lake Placid in fine form to defend his 2010 title. Coming into this weekend, Hoffman brings with him wins from Ironman 70.3 Muncie, and Ironman 70.3 Boise. He will face stiff competition from a gathering of accomplished professional men, though, if he hopes to make it two in a row in Lake Placid.
Those include Australia’s Jason Shortis (a five-time Ironman winner), Argentina’s Eduardo Sturla (the reigning Ironman Brazil Champion and a four-time Ironman winner), Australia’s Luke Bell (finished second to Simon Lessing here in 2004, and has multiple wins on the Ironman 70.3 circuit), American TJ Tollakson (third at Ironman St. George and a winner at Ironman 70.3 Eagleman) and Germany’s Torsten Abel (third at Ironman Arizona and Switzerland in 2009 and who is married to professional triathlete Leanda Cave).
Professional Men
1 Ben Hoffman USA
3 Jason Shortis AUS
4 Luke Bell AUS
5 TJ Tollakson USA
7 Torsten Abel DEU
8 Eduardo Sturla ARG
9 Logan Franks USA
10 Tim Snow USA
11 Raul Furtado BRA
12 Ryan Grant CAN
13 Arland Macasieb PHL
14 Mike Caiazzo USA
15 Tyler Lord CAN
16 Mike Neill CAN
17 Chris Bagg USA
18 Matthew Russell USA
19 Holden Comeau USA
20 John Hirsch USA
21 Sergio Quezada Ruiz MEX
22 Raymond Botelho USA
23 Dereck Treadwell USA
25 Kyle Pawlaczyk USA
26 Ryan Kelly USA
27 Ian Mikelson USA
28 Tom Eickelberg USA
29 Ryan Cain CAN
30 Daniel Bretscher USA
31 Ryan Bates USA
Originally from: ironman.com - Wurtele leads the women’s field
Canada’s Heather Wurtele leads the way for the women. The two-time Ironman St. George Champion excels on tough bike courses and she will get that here in the Adirondack Mountains.
However, American Tyler Stewart, the 2009 Ironman Coeur d’Alene champion and runner-up here in her 2007 rookie year, is no slouch in the biking department either. At Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas Stewart posted the fastest women’s Ironman bike split of all time (4:42:40) so it safe to say that we will have a cycling showdown in the women’s race on Sunday.
Belgium’s Tine Deckers will be another one to look for. In 2009 she became the first Belgian woman to win an Ironman race at Ironman France and she defended that title in 2010. This year she placed fifth at the very competitive Ironman Texas and was second at Ironman 70.3 South Africa. American Jackie Arendt placed second to Wurtele at Ironman St. George, so she will be well equipped to take on the challenging course at Lake Placid. Canada’s Suzanne Zelazo, an English Literature professor, will make her Ironman debut.
Professional Women
40 Heather Wurtele CAN
42 Tyler Stewart USA
45 Amber Ferreira USA
47 Jacqui Gordon USA
48 Jackie Arendt USA
50 Marie Danais CAN
51 Suzanne Zelazo CAN
52 Tine Deckers BEL
53 Miranda Alldritt CAN
Over 2,600 athletes will vie for 65 qualifying age group slots to the 2011 Ford Ironman World Championship, while the professionals will battle it out for a $75,000 prize purse and valuable ranking points towards qualifying for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Hawaii on October 8.
Originally from: ironman.com 
Sameh Mikhail will be wearing #179 as designated Blazeman Warrior. Sameh has a great story to tell. From his chance meeting with Jon Blais’ parents, to his recovery after being hit by a car on two separate occasions in preparation for Ford Ironman Lake Placid. His injuries included a fractured vertebra, and a broken nose, just to list a few. We will have more on Sameh’s story later.
There will be other Blazeman Warriors doing the race too. Find out more about the Blazeman Foundation and the War on ALS at www.waronals.com- For all you number lovers, here are some stats to throw your way:
1013 first time Ironman racers
696 Female racers, 2184 Males. An increase in the women from last year.
The men 40-44 age group is the largest at 524 athletes, for the women it is the same age group but at 161 athletes.
The USA has 2309 athletes registered, the Canadians follow in second with 428, and Great Britain in third with 20 athletes.
It should come at no surprise that New York leads with 793 athletes coming from a particular State. New Jersey is in second with 249. But the province of Ontario in Canada has 265 athletes here. - Race Day Weather
A high of 74 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius) and a low of 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius).
For the swim, temperatures with be in the high 50’s to low 60’s and temperatures are projected to stay in the high 60’s until noon. They will then rise up to the low 70’s. On the bike, winds will be from the North or North Northeast at 7 miles per hour.
There should be some cloud cover during the bike, but it looks like there will be pure sunny skies for the run.
Chance of Precipitation? Just 10% in between 6 and 10 am.
The UV index will be high so make sure to apply your sunscreen.
The sun is supposed to set at 8:30 pm, so if your goal is to finish in daylight, there is your target time.
So it sure looks like ideal conditions tomorrow.
Could we see some course records broken? Will personal bests be set? Just one more sleep and we will have all the answers.
Live text coverage begins tomorrow morning at 6 am. Live video coverage with Greg Welch, Michellie Jones, and Matt Lieto starts at 6:30 am.
See you then.
Good Morning from the 13th edition of Ford Ironman Lake Placid.
We are all set to bring you live coverage of the oldest Ironman race on mainland United States.
The latest race information along with images will be posted here, and go to the Audio/Video Tab for Live video coverage with Greg Welch, Michellie Jones, and Matt Lieto – this starts at 6:30 am.
The professional race begins at 6:50 am, and all age groupers will go off at 7 am.
Thanks for joining us for what will be a spectacular day of racing here at Ford Ironman Lake Placid.- The professional and age group race has started on a beautiful morning at Mirror Lake.
- The Ford Ironman Lake Placid course records were both set in 2004.
Simon Lessing 8:23:12 (47:08, 4:44:23, 2:46:39)
Kate Major 9:24:42 (55:20, 5:06:48, 3:17:35)
Conditions are ripe for a possible trimming of those times, and defending champion Ben Hoffman is definitely eyeing that possibility. - Make sure to tune into Ironmanlive TV for live video. Go to the Audio/Video Tab above. Greg and Michellie are going over the bike course right now.
- Holden Comeau is first into transition.
- Comeau is out on the bike, followed by TJ Tollakson, and closely shadowed by Luke Bell.
