 For the staff of Ironman North America it seems like much of life goes by when you’re on the road. President, Graham Fraser, celebrated his 44th birthday at Ironman Coeur d’ Alene – he doesn’t look a day over 43 and a half. From left: Laurie & Kevin Glynn (local Ironman liaison and honorary course guy), Graham, and Matt (Graham’s much better looking son) celebrate the big day.
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2005 Ironman Coeur d’ Alene
It’s been a little over a week now but there are still A LOT of athletes who can’t go down a flight of stairs without holding on to the hand rails with sore legs and who continue to eat enough for a family of 5 on a daily basis as Ironman recovery continues in its traditional fashion.Ironman Coeur d’ Alene dawned cool and clear on June 26th and gave athletes the best weather in its 3-year history. It seems to get just a little cooler each year and the third time was charmed for what has been a furnace the past two years – especially the first year back in 2003 when temperatures were in the low 100’s. This year was relatively mild by comparison but the day still warmed up for athletes who were on the run course between 1 and 6pm. Afternoon thunder showers helped cool things off as 1657 official finishers crossed the line before the midnight cutoff. That’s the most to cross the line as there were 1628 in 2004 and just 1343 finishers in that first scalding year.
The Multisports.com staff was present and busy with race related duties throughout the week leading up to and on race day. Paula spent the early part of the week herding the professionals through the Pro Panel Q&A at the expo, the press conference, and the pro-meeting. The mornings and evenings were spent as a coach and key note speaker for the Ironman CEO Challenge and conducting interviews for the live television broadcast of the event. On race day she was busy putting together “live” updates of the men’s professional race and human interest stories for the live show – she was busy to say the least.
Roch came up on Thursday to coach the CEO’s, meet with the Multisports.com athletes on Friday morning, support his personal clients, and fill in holes for the race staff from 3am throughout the day on race day. Normally in charge of the run and/or bike course at Ironman races, he and Huddle split the events for 2005 leaving him free for Coeur d’ Alene - but, since he was there and obviously going through cone/barricade withdrawal, he was willingly roped into a long hard day.
Jimmy Riccitello came in to perform his duties as Ironman’s head official. As part of Global Tri Group’s goal of better customer service – including fair and safe officiating – Jimmy would take on his second event as the head official. From the reaction of the athletes, he’s obviously doing a GREAT job…now all he needs is a shirt that fits.
Huddle spent the entire week before and couple of days after the event tending to the bike and run courses and was given much grief for missing the Thursday morning Multisports.com athlete meeting on the beach at 7am – something about a “cone emergency”. Out at 2:30am on race day to set the cones and traffic control on the bike course and then joining the final rider to pick it all up again, many were asking if he was even there – yes, he was there.
The crowds in town were the largest ever and gave every athlete a huge lift as they rode and ran in pursuit of the Ironman Coeur d’ Alene finish line. Many would comment that they felt like they were in the Tour de France – minus naked guys with capes running along with the cyclists, that is.
Congratulations to all Multisports.com Ironman Coeur d’ Alene participants!!!
Stephen Albright - 12:39:02
Sean Brannon - 10:51:21
Marlo Crosby - 11:38:27
Douglas Duval - 14:36:07
Tim Ferguson - 12:04:20
Chris Fiacco - 11:14:50
Anne Linton - 13:10:14
Stephanie McDoulett - 14:42:37
Dennis Morini - 10:50:45
Michel Moulin - 13:00:15
Ted Philip - 10:26:56
Rhae Shaw - 11:06:57
Joseph Wilczynski - 13:46:14
Christa Wollenweber - 14:58:32
James Zuba - 12:15:56
Greg Price - 10:06:57
Daniel Andersen - 15:32:30
Ken Bakunas - 15:15:46
Mike Chapman - 13:15:48
Max Hoes - 10:50:13
Shawn Hudspeth - 11:28:16
Doug McLeod - 11:21:44
Paul Schneider - 13:14:34
Domenic Smeraglia - 11:43:12
Vicky Smith - 14:46:03
Laura Taylor - 16:22:03
Matt Wilson - 11:52:48
Jeannine Jensen - 11:58:45
Remember to check out the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) broadcast of the Ford Ironman USA Coeur d'Alene Triathlon on Sunday, October 16 at 3:00pm EST.