Lots of Race Results

What a great weekend of racing for the RMEC. We were spread out over multiple cities doing a variety of distances, and everyone did exceptionally well. I will begin at the Beach2Battleship 1/2 Marathon, because I completely forgot to mention that Tim Shea was racing in this event. Tim had been training hard for this half ironman event, waking up before the sun to complete most of his workouts. The hard work paid off, as Tim finished with a time of 5:42:43. Although Tim considers cycling his sport of choice, his run was his most impressive leg of the race, where he ran a 2:03 half marathon after three hours of exercise. All total, Tim finished 102nd out of 255 men, and 12th in his age group.

Cliff Amos was also in Wilmington this weekend, but completing his first ever ironman distance. A race of this distance has a real possibility that you will not finish. This was not a problem for Cliff. With a total time of 12:13:22, Cliff finished in 152nd place. Based on his splits, it appears took a conservative approach to the swim and bike. He finished the swim in 1:01, and the bike in 6:25. He then smoked the marathon and ran a 4:24!

South of Cliff, Jason Irvin was also making his first attempt at the ironman distance in the Ford Ironman Florida. Jason finished with a total time of 12:20:19 (although I need to confirm if this is gun or chip time). Jason had a solid 2.4 mile swim in 1:07:13. He then played to his strength and flew through the bike leg with a time of 5:43. His marathon time was 5:18. This earned Jason 1166th place out of 2270!

My hat is to both Cliff and Jason. Think about just how long 12 hours lasts. . . These guys were jumping in the ocean when the sun came up, and finished the race in the dark while we were putting out kids to bed. Imagine exercising all day. Impressive performance guys!

Coming closer to home, the RMEC had three participants at the City of Oaks races this weekend. Dave Lavely ran the full marathon in 3:55:15. This time might seem a little off of what Dave normally does, but this was a training run for Dave, as he has another marathon next weekend. Ursula Forrester and Amber Poole finished the half marathon in 2:13:23 and 2:21:17 respectively. Ursula placed 116th out of 252 in her age group, and Amber placed 158th out of 282. Both had strong performances and look poised for more great races (First Carolina Half, Disney Half, etc.) as 2008 winds to a close.

Beth Coleman completed her first marathon this weekend on a windy day in New York. She had a goal of getting under 5:00 which she crushed by 15 minutes. Here final time was 4:45:30. Great debut Beth. . . hope you are hooked now!

I welcome any race reports written by RMEC members. Email me a recap and I will have it posted to the blog. People get bored of hearing me ramble about the same stuff over-and-over. A new perspective on an event is fun for everyone to read.