December 1, 2005

Ci Clinics

Running Room's Resolution Run Dec. 31

The Salvation Army Santa Shuffle - Dec 3

1. Important!  Revised Meeting Info - Cycling Access to Southwest Bypass Interchange
2. Clinton Lahnalampi's "Silverman Race Report"
3. Coming in 2006 - Sudbury Rocks!!! - Race, Run or Walk for Diabetes
4. Upcoming Events - Santa Shuffle THIS SATURDAY at 10:00 AM
5. Running Room Run Club Update
6. Track North News - by Dick Moss
7. Mike's Tri Adventure - by Mike Coughlin

Revised Meeting Info

Cycling Access to Southwest Bypass Interchange

Action Alert

Join Us in Discussion of Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Issues that will Results from Interchange Construction at the Southwest Bypass and Long Lake Road

Dear Residents and Concerned Citizens,
On Tuesday, December 6, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. a public meeting will be held in the Gallery at the Countryside Arena to discuss construction of the interchange at the Southwest Bypass and Long Lake Road.
Please join other taxpayers in voicing your concerns about pedestrian and cyclist safety issues that may result from this construction. Councillor Doug Craig and municipal planning staff will be present to address your concerns.
Please help us spread the word about this public meeting by forwarding this alert on to at least 10 others whom you think have concerns about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists that will arise as a result of this construction. Currently, the MTO does not have plans to build pedestrian crosswalks under the bypass.
Although plans for this extension have been drawn, it is still early enough to include pathways that will ensure for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists along Long Lake Road.
Please join us in this discussion.
Sincerely,
Concerned residents of the South end

For more information please call Rainbow Routes Association 674-4455 ext 4603
Thank you!

Clinton Lahnalampi's "Silverman Race Report"

Greetings fellow Sudbury Rocks, I have recently had the pleasure/pain of completing the Silverman, an iron-distance race around Henderson, the neighbouring city to Las Vegas. This was by far the most grueling race/journey of my life. The course took everything I had in me, and then some to complete.

The Abbreviated Version

3.8 km swim in Lake Mead 1 hour 14 minutes; 180 km bike with more climbing than any other Iron-distance race on the planet, in and out of the ‘Valley of Fire’ with the fifth best time on the day in 6 hours 4 1/2 minutes; 42.2 km of hill running in 4 hours and 14 minutes; completing the ‘World’s toughest iron distance triathlon’ 9th overall and in a total of 11 hours and 38 minutes, timeless.

The Extended Version

The Silverman was touted as the toughest iron distance race in the world. Six time Hawaii champion Dave Scott was on hand as part of a promo and participated on a relay team; he ended up doing the 3.8k swim, the full 180k bike, and half of the marathon just for kicks. At the awards banquet the following day he said in his speech that the course was the toughest course he has ever ridden including Hawaii.

The race started with the 2.4-mile swim, the only flat part of the entire race, in Lake Mead just a few miles from the Hoover Dam. I paced myself well completing the single loop with a split just less than 1 hour and 14 minutes. I felt my swim was very controlled and I was in good spirits heading out to tackle ominous bike course.

The Bike started with a 90 mile out and back into the "Valley of Fire", then continued on into the city of Henderson for the Marathon. Please do not quote me on this, but I believe I heard or read somewhere that there was over 9700 feet of climbing on the bike. More than any other Iron event in the world! It was non-stop climbing all ride, I’m not just talking rolling hills but mountainous ascents. Exiting Lake Mead National Recreation Area and coming into the city of Henderson up the River mountains Trail Loop was the toughest part of the bike. The three successive steep climbs, I call them the ‘Three Amigos’, where not even close to being the largest of climbs of the day, but they were the steepest and toughest considering the point of the race at which they were at. About 100 to 200 yards each with grades up to about 18 % they were just killer being that close in succession to each other.

Only three individual competitors were able to break the 6-hour mark for the bike leg. Relatively I have found I am strongest on the bike when climbing and this course suited my approach to cycling well. I ended up having the sixth fastest bike leg among the individual competitors behind two local riders including the top female, and a rider from near by Utah. Not bad for only having one good day of scouting out the bike course with my Dad a resident of the Las Vegas and avid cyclist. By the way, my Dad completed the Bike leg of the race as part of a relay team. More impressively he had only been asked to fill in for a rider on the Wednesday before the race. No too shabby for the Old Man.

In my short time in the sport of long distance triathlon I have found that the best measure of one’s cycling ability is best measured in part by one’s time and position for the bike but more importantly how much gas left a racer has to run an effective marathon. When I did the Canadian Iron-distance race in Ottawa on September 3rd my bike split was not exactly the most impressive but I had plenty left in the tank to pull out a decent marathon and move up in position continuously throughout the run. For the Silverman it was the exact opposite: good bike split and I could only try to hang on to my position in the run.

Having just completed what Dave Scott described as the toughest bike course out of any iron race he had seen I was looking for some relief on the marathon course. Big Mistake! There was virtually no flat section to this run course either. Not rolling hills either, but long steady climbs and down hills about 2 to 3 miles in length. Dave Scott "The Man" referred to the run course as one of the toughest in iron distance racing. I ended up having to walk a few miles on the second of two loops. However I did find myself in a foot race with fellow competitor for the last five or 6 kilometers and I managed to defend my top ten position I had moved into on the bike. The amount of climbing on both the bike and run courses certainly humbled this triathlete!

I am satisfied with my result considering everything I ended up going through to complete the journey. It certainly brought me to a new level of suffering. I ended up 9th overall in 11:38:37 and second in my age division with a 1:13:57 swim split, a 2:29 T1, a 6:04:28 bike split, a 3:34 T2, and a humbling 4:14:11 marathon split.



Links:

http://www.silvermannv.com/

http://www.insidetri.com/race/iro/articles/3078.0.html

http://www.insidetri.com/news/fea/2758.0.html

Results

http://www.tri-a-run.com/Results%20Files/SILVER05A.TXT

http://www.silvermannv.com/results.html

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