Friday, November 28, 2008

Ironman Arizona

Several Finish Strong Athletes completed in Ironman, AZ in 2008. Both, Marcos Omelanczuk and Tommy Sustala each had great races in Arizona.  The fall edition of this race provided cooler temperatures and minimal winds in comparison with the April race.  Good call by the RD's to change the date.

Marcos completed IMAZ in 11:15:26.  Marcos had a good swim and strong bike (5:25).  Tommy used a very fast swim (56:16) and solid bike and run splits to finish his first Ironman in 11:22:05.  Both athletes were very disciplined following their training schedules and it paid off! 

Monday, November 17, 2008

Ironstar Triathlon

Finish Strong Athletes dominate at the local Ironstar Triathlon. Race morning temperatures greet the nearly 400 competitors but the sun was out the the temperatures quickly climbed into the 70's by the time most were on the run course.

Finish Strong coached athletes had some great performances. Michelle LeBlanc was the 1st women and 3rd finisher overall in a stellar time of 4:32:43. Michelle capped off her race with a 1:29:50 run over a hilly course. Lisa Tilton won her age group in a time of 5:37:35 and was the 9th women to cross the line despite stopping to help a fellow triathlete who had a flat out on the course.

On the men's side, Walt Yarrow set a PR finishing in 5:08:15 which was good for a 5th place AG finish and 21st male across the line. Walt has been working on his run and it showed! He had a 1:43:15 which was 3rd fastest in his AG. Casey Clark and Phillip DePrang were competing in their first half ironman race. Casey finished with a 5:24:09 while Phillip with a 6:35:57.