The LA Tri Club was approached to offer some timing assistance to the TV Network (NBC) for the Marathon Broadcast on Sunday. We put together a team of 12 cyclists and split into two teams of 6, one for the men and one for the women pros. Then, we split again into teams of two who leap-frogged between the mile-markers to call in those actual splits. The photo below was taken of our group, lined up in front of the pro-marathoners start. Photo by Norman Schwartz.
Well, before we even lined up at the start, we all met-up at Carls Jr. Brian, below, enjoyed a quick breakfast before our outting.
Anna Wills is examining her handy-dandy map of the route with her partner, Michael Keeley. They were our sprinters to the first mile marker on the women's team.
The Pro Men... man... smokin!! They ran in a pack like this for most of the race. It was amazing to watch them fly by! The men's timing team was working hard to keep up with them, and they were on bikes!
This is how the PROS ROLL... personal water bottles containing their favorite fuels... hummmm, if only we could have a peak inside....
By about mile 16-18 or so, all the men had caught up to the women in our leap-frogging -- and, by Mile 26 we were all together again. It was super exciting to watch the finish together! The men's leader passed the women's leader at the very end. As we were posing here, everyone was all figity because you can see the leaders coming in and it was hard to focus elsewhere besides the event!
After we made it to the official finish line, we stowed our bikes in the VIP tents and grabbed some eats, drinks and headed out to watch the rest of the "real people" finish. Below, is clubber Amy Berkin after her strong posting.
Here is Achilles Track Club and Team Riley member, who cycled the first 25.2 miles of the race in his wheelchair bike, but then WALKED the last mile! Huge moment!!
Below, are Nadeem, Ian, Brian and Rom inside the VIP tents behind the finish line. A happy moment.... still soaking it all in.
Jeanette joined me at the Finish... She put me up the night before in her Hollywood Hills home, which is only a mile and a half from the new Marathon start line... then, she took the subway down to the finish. Overall, a well mapped out event.
Here is our final group shot -- the excitement -- the rush of being on the course with no-cars, next to the pros! Awesome weather... great LATC Company! What a Sunday!! Thank you to the LA Marathon, Steve, Basil, Rom & the whole behind-the-scenes crew for looping us in for such a unique taste of this venerable LA event.
