… 5 years ago a bunch of us did IM Wisconsin… Brett wasn’t one of them… in fact, he’d never done a triathlon 5 years ago. But yesterday, he did his second Ironman, (he was part of the group of 14 LOSTies that did IM Canada last year), Ironman Wisconsin. And he was going there to qualify for Kona.
Brett is the smilin’ face you see behind the counter at his shop “Bean There” when we go for coffee after LOST Swimming on Saturdays… and aside from owning the best little coffee shop in Oakville, he also happens to be a pretty decent triathlete.
Unlike the rest of us mortals, the guy is riddled with talent… he’s a runner (sub 3 hour marathon guy)… he took up biking in the last few years, and surprise, surprise… he’s good at that too. The big surprise was that he wasn’t a swimmer when he started triathlon a couple of years ago… but clearly due to LOST swimming (oh ya, and boat load of talent) he’s turned into a very good swimmer too! I should also mention that it isn’t just pure talent that had him vying for a spot in Wisconsin… he also trains hard. Really, really hard. Anyway, he had a really good, bad race… but I’ll let Lambrina and Brett tell you how the race went:
This email from Lambrina last night:
I am VERY proud of Brett what a fighter and amazing that after a major crash & 2 flat tires after the crash finishing 7th in Division rank, 195 in gender rank, and 218 overall!! We had everything checked out at the medic tent (sorry David NO IV…bummer). He crashed at about 59 miles and had two separate flat tires on the 2nd half of the course.
Brett sends a HUGE THANKS for all your cheers, encouragement and congrats for his finish….lots of stories for the pub next week!!
XO Lamb & Brett
… and this from Brett:
Hey all,
Thanks so much for all you kind words of encouragement and accolades.
Obviously not the result I would have liked but in the end it’s probably the journey I’ll tell someone’s grand kids someday.
It was a great weather day so no excuses there. As for the crash and flats. Well that’s so much a part of many peoples day at IM. I’ve always been very fortunate so I can’t really play the sympathy card to much. (I prefer money anyway!)
Not sure about the crash as I don’t remember anything. I was fortunate enough to meet Mike the poor soul from Alaska who was riding behind me at the time and also crashed. Told him jokingly he was probably drafting me. Unfortunately for me I usually drink on the downhills so he said I was reaching for my back bottle when front tire went sideways in a pot hole and launched me over top of the tri bars at 40 kph. (all you guys that were generously offering your Zips to me. Actually the Zips faired much better then my tri bars.) My head must have hit hard because I woke up riding my bike. Not sure how that could happen but I swear that’s my first memory.
Oh and Rob, the reason I was sprinting across the finish line (I sent him an email and told him that Jo and I watched him come across the line on IM Live and he came screaming across full tilt! Beating the next guy by 3 seconds) was a guy in my age group passed me a km out and he didn’t take my re-passing him well. So my plan of having a quiet finish and just crawling into a hole were dashed. We pretty much did what felt like a flat out sprint for a km. When he was graciously congratulating me at the end he said he was also vying for Kona. Screw Kona. I won Paisly!!!
Cheers,
Brett
A couple of other notes too:
- Brett’s time was: s= 1:06, b= 6:04, r= 3:40, overall= 11:00:52
- we aren’t sure yet, but he may still get a roll down for Kona… find out later today! Fingers crossed! (if not… it’s just a matter of time!)
- “amazing that after a major crash & 2 flat tires after the crash finishing 7th in Division rank, 195 in gender rank, and 218 overall!!!”… so you’re saying that he got “chicked” by 23 women! I can’t imagine how embarrassing that would be!
- and this deserves a much bigger note than this… so I’ll write in bold… our good friend, Margaret Dorio from TCOB, (they were the ones that invited us to join their Pier to Pier swim last week!) won her age group in Wisconsin and qualified for her first Kona spot!!! Huge Congrats Margaret!!!
- Margaret’s time was: s= 1:15, b= 5:46, r= 4:09, overall= 11:23
- Brett, Margret, Eileen, Tim… on the podium in Peterborough!
