Those of you who were “glued” to Ironmanlive on Saturday may have seen Brian Keast who was on IM live longer than any other AG’er. Keast was running along side (I think it was Womens Pro Bently). The pro woman looked like she was flying. She looked awesome as she bounced along the Queen “K”. Running next to her was Keast who looked as though he might be able to struggle through a 4 hour marathon.
They stayed together for a long time and he belted out a 3:14 marathon split. Not sure who else saw this, but I have never seen anyone look so slow that runs so fast!
Brian Keast has done 14 Kona’s in 14 years. He will be back for 2007 for his 15th. He is also a poster on ST. He goes by “Overdistance”. Brian does not race that much back home in Ontario, but each October, when he shows up at this Island, he certainly delivers the goods. He also puts on a fabulous “Team Canada” BBQ on the Tue before Kona at Sea Village.
I saw that, it was a funny contrast. I kept yelling at my screen for him to just drop back and get out of the shot. I figured he was milking the camera and would collapse in a heap once she got clear of him. I never would have even guessed that he would run 3:14 though, good for him.
Watching someone run and trying to guess their speed can sure be deceiving, I recall getting blown by at my last race by a guy that looked like he was barely making progress; then I realized he had just PASSED me and it made me wonder how bad I must be looking
The IM Live crew commented on this very thing Saturday…as you say, it looked like Bentley was flying and Keast was plodding when you saw them separately; side by side, they’re going the same speed. It further exemplified why seeing a particular running style and gait is not indicative of speed (see Dave Scott); “side views” were necessary to see how fast someone was going…if that makes sense…
Brian is also 7-8 inches taller than Lisa, so Lisa needs more spring in her stride and more turnover to go the same speed as Brian who might look like he is shuffling. If you saw Brian and Michelle running side by side, they’d be looking pretty well the same (aside from Michelle looking a lot better in her pink gear than Brian…sorry Brian…could not resist).
Indeed, the size difference was readily apparent…it was just very interesting to see the juxtaposition of both of them, their styles and the effective pace. Kind of a refresher if you will regards to any sort of technique----if it works, don’t change it to look better, change it to perform better…be it swim, bike position or running style…
Those of you who were “glued” to Ironmanlive on Saturday may have seen Brian Keast who was on IM live longer than any other AG’er. Keast was running along side (I think it was Womens Pro Bently). The pro woman looked like she was flying. She looked awesome as she bounced along the Queen “K”. Running next to her was Keast who looked as though he might be able to struggle through a 4 hour marathon.
They stayed together for a long time and he belted out a 3:14 marathon split. Not sure who else saw this, but I have never seen anyone look so slow that runs so fast!
Not trying to hijack the thread or anything but Brian won his age-group last year, for the first time, after getting on PC’s. He came by the booth to thank us and we got a video interview with him. I didn’t realize who it was on the feed until Andrew told me after the event. I think his stride says something about economy of movement.
Frank, another reason to have your PC athletes have their PC’s on their race bike, even if they use them in lockout mode. Its a great marketing opportunity!
I’ve known Brian for years and used to run the odd track workout with him when we lived in the same part of the province. He will probably be the first to admit that he is not an overly “fast” runner. However, he is a very strong cyclist which allows him the strength to cruise at a good pace in an ironman. He doesn’t have a lot of knee lift or quick turnover. Lisa Bentley was a top university cross-country runner prior to getting into triathlon. Her run will always look “fast” with quick turnover and more leg lift since she was a runner first. When you think that Lisa’s 3:08 and Brian’s 3:14 are not even sub-7 minute miles you can’t really describe it as fast running (relative to what you would see in a running race) but it is good strong running after the swim and bike “warmup”. I know that I’ve run a 2:32 marathon but haven’t figured out how to get a sub-3:10 IM run yet but figure it has more to do with bike strength than speedy running.
Brian used to rip up the local tri and du scene for short races too and would regularly outsplit most of the regional pro guys on the bike until he got the Kona bug. Now every year, his focus is on one race and I think that Kona was his only tri this year. Care to chime in Brian?
Back in the day Dave Scott didn’t look like he was running fast either with his heels skimming the pavement. He looked like he was running 9 minute miles on TV when he was moving along at about 6:45s.
Frank, another reason to have your PC athletes have their PC’s on their race bike, even if they use them in lockout mode. Its a great marketing opportunity!
This is one of the reasons we would like people to race on their cranks, aside from the fact we really do think it would make most of them faster. But, it wouldn’t have helped us here as he was running at the time. I have had some discussions with bike manufacturers and they always bemoan the fact the winner almost always gets their picture crossing the finish line published but less often on their bikes.
It is not clear that even having people race on the cranks that anyone would really notice unless it was pointed out to them. I was talking with Graham Frasier at the out and back at IM Canada and mentioned that Courtney was racing on PC’s. He hadn’t even noticed even though he is all over the place watching these guys.
Right now many people think we are just paying these people to use their names but few of them actually use the product. If they actually raced on the cranks it would be proof they actually used them, and it would be doubly good if they did good, like Courtney.
Yes! That’s amazing. I realized he wasn’t going slow when he repassed Bentley and kept along side her for a while. His posture looked tiring, but his stride was smooth.
Overall a GREAT athlete, not a bad bike either!!!
ATHLETE RANK AGE SWIM BIKE RUN TOTAL 1 <u>Keast, Brian</u> 395/91/82 46 01:05:00 04:49:02 03:14:08 09:14:15
I remember the shot, so I looked up his bib number after the race to see who he was. Winning 45-49 in 9:15 is damn impressive. Keep in mind he’d already made up 15 minutes on Bentley to even be next to her for that shot, so he obviously had business running with her. He sure didn’t look fast though.
I was down at the finish line area and turned around to see the same shot on the Jumbo Tron. I was thrilled and started yelling “Yea Brian!” He’s great guy with a wonderful wife and family. It was great to see him win two years in a row. Congratulations Brian!
Frank…I’ll make you a deal…let’s get a “lockout option” pair on my tri bike and I’ll race on them
Allan, I think you are correct…Brian only raced Kona…I don’t know how you can only do one race, but he certainly rises to the occaision. I guess you’ll just have to raise your bike game so that you can get back to Kona and race him on “his turf” doing a sub 3 run
Dev, by now Kona is Brian’s “home turf” and my chances of beating him there are pretty slim since he seems to have gotten the whole Kona experience thing nailed down. I might have a shot when he is 66 and I’m only a young 60 year old so maybe we can all head to Kona in 20 years for a senior citizen showdown
