Ironman Texas sees small field, fast times
Waller Co. D.A. takes Waller P.D. to task and a peek at the Boston Marathon.
Hello endurance athletes,
It was a big weekend here in The Woodlands with the return of Ironman Texas. While the field itself was much smaller than usual, the crowd and community support seemed to still be strong, and the athletes brought it under less-than-ideal conditions. I had a ton of fun volunteering and cheering with my team, Conroe Triathletes, at our tent.
Ironman Texas, heat and headwinds
With a smaller field of between 800-900 participants in Saturday’s Ironman Texas, which is usually 2,000-3,000 athletes, competitors got some nice added benefits. A less-crowded swim followed by mostly-open roads and no giant pelotons on the Hardy Tollway on raceday. And, with the small crowd and 45 Kona slots up for grabs the odds had never been better to get a slot at the world championships.
I volunteered as a sag wagon driver, here’s some dashcam video during the early part of the bike showing how open the roads were.
It did get busier than that, but still quite clear all day.
It was a non-wetsuit legal swim, though participants could wear them and not be eligible for awards or Kona slots.
Reviews of the race have been quite positive, minus the heat and headwind. The main issue people had was on the bike, some tires were getting caught in expansion joints on the Hardy causing some fairly gnarly crashes. However, a lot of the feedback was that the course was very smooth if you avoided those seams. More often though, it was the heat that got people.
Our sag vehicle passengers said pretty unanimously that on the way south they faced a tough headwind, but then roasted without a breeze to cool them off on the way back north.
Ironman released their highlight video, it’s as inspiring as ever.
Final results are posted here. The top Texan male was Yohann Miglis, from Houston who came in with a smoking fast 9:15:01 for seventh place overall and first in M30-34. Dallas resident Jeannine Mahoney, a Wattie Ink Elite athlete, was the top Texas woman, coming in at 11:07:04 and winning the F40-45. Both would have qualified for Kona.
Here are some of the photo highlights from the day on Instagram.
It’s always so inspiring to volunteer at Ironman Texas. If you can, I highly recommend it.
Waller County D.A. has strong words for city police
The District Attorney for Waller County, Elton Mathis, had very strong words for the Waller Police Department in a Facebook post Monday. In the post he reveals that the Waller P.D. bungled the case from the get-go. Though the police were encouraged by the Texas Department of Public Safety to treat it as a crime scene, they did not.
He further confirmed that the 16-year-old’s family does have connections to city officials, though he says there’s no evidence that played any role in how the case was handled on the scene. They are, however, still investigating that matter.
He also offered further assurances that the case is continuing and won’t be swept under the rug.
Here is the post from the D.A. in its entirety.
It has been 16 days now since six innocent bicyclists were run over by a motorist in Waller County. This office tried to refrain from passing any judgment until we could gather information about what happened at the scene. As previously stated, we did not get professionally or formally notified of the occurrence at the time of the event, but found out via social media. Now, we are able to share a small part of our opinions as the case investigation progresses and questions continue to arise as to how the D.A.’s office will proceed.
1) This case was not handled appropriately by the investigating agency. PERIOD. Despite being encouraged by the Texas Department of Public Safety to treat the scene as a crime scene and to contact the D.A.‘s Office for advice on how to proceed, the investigating agency chose not to do so. The actions of the Texas Department of Public Safety on scene were professional and we are thankful they were there to assist. We are also working with the Waller County Sheriff’s Office to gather the evidence they are able to provide as they arrived on scene to backup Waller P.D. Sheriff Guidry has been most helpful in this regard.
2) There has been some online and community speculation that the incident was handled in the manner it was because of connections between the motorist and Waller city officials. At this point we can confirm there are some connections, but have yet to see evidence of a city official directing the officer on the scene as to how to handle this particular situation. We will continue to look for any such criminal interference as the investigation proceeds.
3) Attorneys for the victims have been more than helpful in assisting this office with seeking justice. Our lines of communication are open and the victims questions are being answered as they arise even though we know they would prefer a faster decision-making process.
4). All sides of this matter (the juvenile, the adult passenger, their families, the victims and their friends/families) can be assured that this case is not being swept away as the days pass, and attorneys for both boys are being cooperative at this time. This will not be a lynching and likewise it will not be a case of small county politics making problems just go away.
5) Finally, we ask that all of our community members and bicyclists that come here to continue to be respectful of one another, share the roads and abide by the laws. This is not the time for finger pointing at groups or making assumptions about people based on their choices in sports or residency. The world is already filled with too much hate and we can do our part as a community (that includes its cyclists and farmers alike) to ensure that justice is done in the courtroom and not on the side of the road. The world is watching all of us. Let’s be the example that it needs to see.
Thanks to all of you for your continued patience.
Waller County District Attorney Elton R. Mathis
ABC13 in Houston received statements from Bike Law and Bike Houston. They also contact us to comment on the matter, which we were happy to.
We will keep you updated.
Boston Marathon sees fast Texans
The Woodlands wasn’t the only place for fast Texans, as some made the trip to Boston for the also-delayed-from-April Boston Marathon. The weather was on the warmer side, in the 60s, though nothing like Ironman Texas.
The top Texan performance on the day came from League City’s Wendy Larsen. She came in first place in the Women’s Handcycle division, with a 1:37:15 finish time, more than 8 minutes ahead of second place. Top Texan male in handcycle was Kyle Grant who finished in a blistering 1:28:36 to take 10th overall.
In the running division, Robert Newton of the McKinney Running Club, came in at 2:36:25 and the fastest woman was Plano’s Jennifer Pope with a 2:47:37.
Meme of the Week
Featured Events
R3 Express - Gravel Challenge | 65 & 28 mile ride | Hunstville | October 16
Cactus Rose | Self-supported 150 to 5 mile trail runs, relays, ruck | Oct 22-24 | Hill Country State Natural Area
IronMan Waco | 140.6 & 70.3 triathlon | Waco | Oct 23 & 24
Red River Relay | ~170 mile relay race | Dennison to Dallas | October 23-24
Oil Man Texas Triathlon | 70.3 Triathlon | Margaritaville Resort, Lake Conroe | Nov. 7
Odyssey SwimRun Austin | Long and short course, solo and team | Pace Bend Park | November 7
Texas BMF (Last Human Standing) | 4.16 Mile Loops per hour | 7IL Ranch | Nov. 19 - when it’s done
Brazos Bend 100 | 100, 50 miles, full and half marathons | Brazos Bend State Park | Dec 4-5
BCS Marathon | Full and half marathon | Bryan/College Station | Dec. 12
HOKA Bandera Endurance Trail Run | 100K, 50K, 25K trail runs | Hill Country State Natural Area | January 8-9
Houston Marathon | Marathon, half and 5K | Downtown | Jan. 15-16
Rocky Raccoon 100 | 100 mile / kilometer run | Huntsville State Park | Feb. 5-6
El Paso Marathon | Marathon, half, 5k, relays | El Paso | Feb. 13
Austin Marathon | Marathon, half, 10k, 5k | Austin | Feb. 20
Cowtown Marathon | Marathon, half, 10k, 5k, relays | Fort Worth | Feb 25-27
The Woodlands Marathon | Marathon, half, relays | The Woodlands | March 5
Media We’re Consuming
Specialized to issue recall and stop-ride notice on Tarmac SL7 bikes (Cycling Tips)
Stephen F. Austin University study finds Nike and Asics models are the top performance shoes (Running Magazine Canada)
Cervélo’s parent company Pon agrees to buy Cannondale’s parent group Dorel Sports for $810 million (VeloNews)
87 Rescued From ‘Near-Whiteout’ Conditions During Utah Ultramarathon (NYT)
Video from participant in ill-fated Utah ultramarathon above (Just Another Runner)
Bellaire resident to run marathon to prove people with diabetes "can do anything" (Houston Chronicle)
Petition begins to bring more safe bike lanes to Corpus Christi (KRIS-TV)
Race mistakes lead to Maine Marathon course record, three disqualifications (Portland Press-Herald)
United Airlines abandons fees for flying with your bicycle - (Cycling Tips)
No, Running Doesn’t Wear Down Your Cartilage. It Strengthens Your Joints (Podium Runner)
The incredible backstory of how female cyclists were evacuated out of Afghanistan (VeloNews)
Get Out There
We love Cody Miller’s channel on YouTube at our house and his stoke was very high in last week’s video.
And I knew I liked the Asics!
All the fun happened at the tent after I left. I’m glad there were some later-in-the-day cheerers. The athletes still on the course sure appreciate it.