Five Lynchburg triathletes complete Ironman Lake Placid

A little more than two years ago, Joel Riley tipped the scales at 220 pounds, which, for his 5-foot-3 frame, was obese.

This past Sunday, Riley, weighing in at a trim 145, was one of five triathletes from Lynchburg to complete Ironman Lake Placid, N.Y. Also competing was Calvin Milam and David Cox, who did it for the second straight summer, Chad Duff, a Brookville graduate, and Whitney Wynn, a graduate of William Campbell.

Maik Twelsiak, of Germany, was the men’s overall winner in 8:36:37. Milam came in first among the five local athletes in 12 hours, 15 minutes. Riley, a 1998 Heritage graduate, placed 1,326th out of 2,258 finishers in 13:46 followed by Cox (14:09), Wynn (14:20) and Duff (14:27).

The five friends, who have known each other for a year or more, have a wide range of vocations.

“Everybody does something different,” said Riley, who serves as branch manager for a BB&T in Lynchburg. “Calvin’s an engineer, David’s a lawyer, Whitney’s a teacher at Amherst Middle School, Chad owns his own carpet cleaning business. We often get together on Saturdays and do lots of riding on the (Blue Ridge) Parkway, training on the hills.”

He said that gave them an advantage over many competitors.

“The course was really hilly so we were lucky to live in Lynchburg where we have the hills and mountains around us,” Riley said. “All of us were pretty ready for it.”

Riley, Duff and Wynn registered for and volunteered at last summer’s event, where they watched Milam and Cox complete the course for the first time.

“It was definitely valuable having them with us to give us tips … specifically about this course,” Riley said. “It helped knowing what the toughest parts were and what I had to prepare for.”

Their friendships were inspirational, as were the scenic views along the course, surrounded by the Adirondacks with the lakes jutting up against the mountains.

“The race support is unbelievable, with 3,000 volunteers helping you out along the way,” Riley added.

Though none of the five Lynchburg athletes ran together, their paths crossed throughout the day since each of the three stages had a double-loop course.

“I was lucky enough to see everybody during the race,” Riley said. “When you see someone you know, it kind of rejuvenates you.”

The mass start to the 2.4-mile swim created a flurry of nearly 2,500 swimmers, who turned Mirror Lake into anything-but-placid water.

“They shoot a cannon to start the race and when the cannon goes off, it’s just a madhouse, with everybody trying to get off to a good position in the swim,” Riley said. “It’s really overcrowded in the water.”

Swimmers often get kicked in the head or bumped into and cut off by others around them.

“Staying focused and not panicking is the most important part of the swim,” Riley said. “You try to find open water before you get hit or kicked again.”

The race continued with a 112-mile cycling trek and ended with a 26.2-mile run passing downtown Lake Placid four times.

“You go by most of the sites that were set up when they had the Olympics there (in 1980),” Riley said. “You see the ski jump, the hockey rink where the (U.S. team) had its ‘Miracle on Ice’ and the finish is at the speed skating rink from the Olympics.”

The chute to the finish line is run on the same Olympic Speedskating Oval were Eric Heiden won five gold medals in 1980.

As Riley was getting out of his cycling clothes and into his running attire, he saw Twelsiak crossing the finish line.

“That was a little demoralizing,” he said. “The run was brutal. When I got off the bike, I couldn’t believe I’ve got to go run a marathon now. The first couple miles were OK, but after that, you start dying. The cramps started setting in for me at mile 12.”

He said numerous runners dropped out of the race due to dehydration after failing to maintain their fluid and energy levels during the long day in the sun.

He beat his goal of 14 hours by a narrow margin of 14 minutes.

“My main goal was just to finish,” he said. “It’s more mental than physical. It’s more against yourself (than the clock). You have to realize, it’s only half a day out of your whole life.”

He felt anything but euphoria upon crossing the finish line.

“When I first finished, I was just so tired,” he said. I felt more sick (than elated). I just needed to lay down and relax.”

Once his body had a chance to recover enough for him to stand up and walk again, Riley started to grasp the weight of his accomplishment and see just how far he has come in the past two years.

“Two years ago, I couldn’t have run a half mile,” said Riley, a Heritage tennis player. “I wasn’t really a runner. I hated running.”

But he learned to love it, and swimming and cycling, and has experienced physical and psychological benefits from all three.

Just like in finishing his first Ironman Triathlon, it took commitment to take the first step and perseverance to keep pressing onward toward his goal.

“Realizing how overweight I was and finally figuring out I needed to do something about it,” said Riley, who took a biometrics program at the Jamerson Family YMCA and began training for the Charlottesville 10-Miler on April 16, 2007, the same day as the massacre at Virginia Tech.

The UVa graduate ran the Virginia Ten Miler in Lynchburg the next fall before setting his sights on greater feats, from sprint triathlons to his first Ironman.