runningwildb
Sep 16, 08 10:10
Post #1 of 2
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"Crew" race report: Toyota Challenge
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http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...earch_engine#1989930
(Dave's Race Report)
As a part of "Dave's Crew" at Ironman Arizona last year, I knew the drill. I was also familiar with the crowd support that is apparent at an Ironman. With this in mind, me and my sister prepared for about a week for Dave's Toyota Challenge Half. We made shirts and signs, and bought noise makers. We stayed at the Lodge, like Dave said, and I would also recommend it to anyone. It had a decent sized indoor pool which was fun for "the crew" the night before the race. The 9am start was nice for the spectators, as we didn't have to rise before the sun like at IM. Dave got checked in and my sister and I prepared our signs and noise makers. We saw Dave at t1 and then ran about a half mile out on the course to cheer everyone on. We were part of only a handful of spectators that ever left the transition/finish area. I noticed that athletes were acknowledging our cheering more than I had expected, which led me to believe that there were not many other fans out on the course. Dave later told me that there were only one or two other groups out on the course cheering. I think it became pretty desolate out there. This only made us cheer harder! If you did the Toyota Challenge, I hope you saw me and my sister out there in our "Dave's Crew" shirts making lots of noise!
The bike went smoothly, I think. We had to get back to the transition area around the time we expected Dave to roll through so we could give him his bike splits. Not wearing a watch was part of his "plan." :) I knew from his past races that we would be able to tell how the run would go by the first few miles. Either he would be running, and keeping gu and drinks down, or he would be walking and puking everything back up! (PR or ER, isnt that what you guys say?!) Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to tell how the run was going until he was almost back from the first loop, so we waited nervously.
This is the absolute worst past of spectating a sport like this: the unknown. There was nothing I could do to help him, and no way of knowing if he was dead or alive at this point. If you have ever spectated a race like this, you know the feeling of helplessness that I am talking about. he rolled through a little over an hour for the first loop, looking worn but still running! We breathed a sign of relief.
We set ourselves up at the finish. At this point the wind was getting really bad. At one point, I glanced over at the transition area and saw that all of the bikes were laying on the ground. My first thought was that they had all blown over, and I ran over to find Dave's bike. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. They had started tearing down the transition area and had layed the bikes on the ground. We gathered Dave's stuff and and bike.
At about an hour later I was starting to get worried. I instructed my sister to sit next to his bike and hold it down so it didnt blow away, and i ran out onto the course. The sky was clouding over at this point and the wind was at its worst all day. i finally saw him up ahead about a mile from the finish and walked out to him. I knew immeditaly that he was not feeling well. I wallked with him for a few minutes until he felt like running again. I made it back to the finish before him in time to snap some pictures.
We tried to get out of there asap, but you all know that moving quickly after a race like that is impossible. Even after we got on the road in attempt to outrun Ike, there were a few more pit stops on the side of the highway (with 50mph wind) so Dave could puke. The power was out almost the whole way into PA, and we luckily found one gas station with power to fill up on the way home. Even back in our hometown, power was out, roads were closed and the school closed the next day as well. We called it our "Road trip with Ike" because he followed us the whole way home!
Congrats to everyone who did the Toyota Challenge. The weather was not optimal, but there were a lot of courageous people out there! We still saw runners out on the course when were leaving, 7+ hours after the start with hurricane force winds!
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