Good Luck Today Lewis!!

Today is the big IronMan World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. For those who are not familiar with triathlon racing, here is an excerpt from the IronMan site:

If you are a triathlete, there is no bigger day in this sport than the Ford Ironman World Championship. It is the race that defined our sport as it came of age, and continues to be the defining race in our sport for any avid triathlete.

To get to the starting line in Kona, you must either be very lucky and get yourself a spot through the lottery, or very talented, and win yourself a qualifying spot at one of the qualifying events held around the world.

Tens-of-thousands of triathletes try to get one of those coveted Ironman spots every year. Only 1,800 succeeded.

That means 1,800 "lucky" people get to test themselves on one of the biggest challenges the sports world has to offer ... 2.4-miles of swimming, 112-miles of biking, and a 26.2-mile marathon run through tough ocean waves, and challenging lava-covered terrain.

While there are thousands of triathlons around the world, it is this one that truly defines the sport. It all began at an Awards Ceremony for a relay running race in Honolulu in 1977. A group of local athletes discussed the idea of an endurance triathlon and combining three major events that already existed on the island. John Collins suggested combining them and making it a single-day event. Later that evening, Collins took the stage announcing the event and that "whoever finishes first, we will call him the IRONMAN." It has since become triathlon's Super Bowl, Wimbledon, World Series, World Cup, and Tour de France all rolled into one. What makes this event so unique is that "average" people get to compete alongside the best in the world.

I am proud to say that my brother, Lewis, has worked tirelessly to be able to achieve a coveted spot among the world's top athletes and is racing at Kona today. This success has come after competing in only his 2nd IronMan race of his career in August 2008 in Louisville, Ky. Lewis' first IronMan in August of 2007 left him just one place shy of a qualifying finish for Hawaii. This year he came back and shaved off 30 minutes of his final race time and achieved a qualifying spot. It is challenging enough to even think about doing a regular triathlon, much less have the determination it takes to compete in such a grueling, lengthy race as an IronMan. We are extremely proud of him! Our Mom and her two sisters have accompanied Lewis to Hawaii and have been enjoying a nice vacation. I'm jealous! ;-)

Here is an article written about Lewis in our local paper and some pictures from this year's finish at IronMan Louisville:
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/cgi-bin/c2.cgi?053+article+Sports+20081006224609053011">




We expect Lewis to cross the finsih line sometime after 11pm Eastern Standard Time. Hawaii is 6 hrs behind EST so that will be approximately 5pm over there. If you would like to watch live coverage of the race today just go to ironman.com and click on Video Webcast. There is also an athlete tracking system and Lewis' bib number is 1706. :-)