Eagleman 70.3

More to come... Amy FARRELL Rank: 1 Overall Rank: 88 BIB: 1400 Division: F35-39 Age: 36 State: Tupper Lake NY Country: USA Profession: Swim: 35:47 Bike: 2:23:25 Run: 1:30:37 Overall: 4:32:44 Congratulations, Amy, on your finish! Swim Details Division Rank: 17 Split Name Distance Split Time Race Time Pace Div. Rank Overall Rank Gender Rank Total 1.2 mi 35:47 35:47 1:51/100m 17 348 101 Bike Details Division Bike Leader | Division Rank: 1 Split Name Distance Split Time Race Time Pace Div. Rank Overall Rank Gender Rank 30 mi 30 mi 1:15:27 1:52:48 23.86 mi/h 56 mi 26 mi 1:07:58 3:00:46 22.95 mi/h Total 56 mi 2:23:25 3:00:46 23.43 mi/h 1 159 14 Run Details Division Run Leader | Division Rank: 1 Split Name Distance Split Time Race Time Pace Div. Rank Overall Rank Gender Rank 6.6 mi 6.6 mi 44:48 3:46:55 6:50/mi 13.1 mi 6.6 mi 45:49 4:32:44 6:59/mi Total 13.1 mi 1:30:37 4:32:44 6:55/mi 1 88 10 Transition T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 1:34 T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 1:21 Farrell earns return trip to Ironman Worlds By DAVE SHEA SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013 TUPPER LAKE - Very few athletes, competing at the highest level of their sport, are faster at 36 than they were at 24. Ogdensburg native and longtime Tupper Lake resident Amy Farrell falls in that select company. She also renewed her membership in a very elite circle of athletes who have qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii on Oct. 12. Farrell earned her third trip to the Ironman Worlds last weekend when she led the Women’s 35-39 age group and was the first female amateur finisher at Eagleman Triathlon 70.3 (Half Ironman) at Cambridge, MD. She completed the 1.2 mile swim, the 56-mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run in 4:32.44. “I was very happy with my time. It fits right in the middle of my two previous bests of 4:19 and 4:39. So I’m faster now than I was at 24,” quips Farrell who by age 24 had followed a natural progression to become a professional triathlete after excelling as a swimmer and distance runner at Ogdensburg Free Academy and earning All-American honors as a distance runner at St. Lawrence University. Her career as professional triathlete ended with agonizing experiences at Ironman Worlds in 2001 and 2002. In 2001 she managed to finish, bloodied and severely scraped but undaunted, after being blown off her bike into a deep ravine. In 2002, in the face of an even more ferocious ranging torrent of wind, she was forced to withdraw 30 miles into the bike segment. She put Ironman behind her to concentrate on her career as a coach and teacher at Tupper Lake Central School and being a wife and mother while concentrating on running and skiing. A concentration which included two near misses at qualifying for the USA Olympic Trials in the marathon. After the near misses she was right on target when she returned triathlon in triumph placing first in 30-34 age group in the Triathlon 70.3 (Half Ironman) World Championships in 2009 in Clearwater, Fla. and took fourth in last year’s worlds in Las Vegas. Competing the heat of Las Vegas accentuated a nagging need to fulfill a sense of unfinished business over what she calls that “dreadful DNF” in Kona in 2002. If she could only find the time to train in the face of an expanding business as usual at home. Three years ago, she and her husband Kevin LaDue, a carpenter, bike technician and snowboard instructor, purchased the Faust Motel on the outskirts of Tupper Lake to go along with career duties, managing four dogs and raising a free-spirited and very athletic daughter Ruby who they say is very wise beyond her nine years on the planet. “We are real Adirondack people, we are very busy and we love it,” says Farrell who has also authored a blog “Ruby’s Mom Racing” since 2007. She shares her love for competing with her daughter Ruby, who has already made her mark in the youth classes of road races and summer mini triathlons in Lake Placid. Farrell found the time to train and delivered a time in Cambridge which showed she was “Goin to Kona”. So in October she will return to Kona totally at peace at being very accomplished amateur but still very driven by the desire to take the Ironman challenge to the limit. “It’s really nice to be amateur. You have a lot more people to swim with,” quips Farrell. “I am just going to see how the race goes. If the training works with my life and I hit my goal I would like to stay with it and see how I match up in my age group over the years. I still think my best Ironman is still ahead of me.”

Road To...

I haven't had a real desire to do an Ironman until this year. That's 11 long years away from the long and painful and sometimes bloody event. The heat of 70.3 Worlds in Vegas made me really really miss Kona. High 80s would seem cool compared to 100+, right? After a crash and ok finish my first year and a dnf my second year in Kona I've always had this unfinished business feeling about the race. Now I feel like it's finally time to go back and really see what I've got. Embrace the ocean, the wind, and the heat and see what I can really do at the Ironman distance. While the half Ironman distance is a nice manageable distance to train for, I'm ready to take the plunge and really get back at it! In 2 weeks I will be racing one of my all time favorite races, Blackwater Eagleman in Cambridge, MD to try and qualify for Kona. This flat, fast, hot race has always appealed to me and its actually where I qualified for Kona in 2002 (the year of the dreadful dnf). Coachulio rose to the the challenge and has prepared me better than I think I've ever been for a race. This winter as I was doing my long runs from Whiteface, while my family was enjoying freshies, I realized I may have found the kind of balance I've been striving for and I could probably make this happen! I hope these weeks fly and I can do Coachulio's incredible plan justice!