Sunday, June 28, 2009
GEORGIA CHAIN GANG FINISHES THE RAAM IN DRAMATIC FASHION!
CONGRATS to Tony Myers and his fellow GEORGIA CHAIN GANG for their very successful Race Accross America (RAAM). For those who do not know Tony - he is a Huge supporter of the Georgia Cup Time Trial Series and a man with at HUGE heart.
Tony Myers , co-founder of Athletic Training Services LLC, is a USAT Level I Coach and has competed in triathlon, duathlon, marathon and cycling events for over fifteen years. As a cycling coach and a triathlon coach he saw a need in the training community for a more personalized approach to coaching using a team approach with the athlete; truly understanding each individual athlete’s strength’s and weaknesses to help them achieve the success they sought using leading edge training techniques such as heart rate based training. He is certified with Heartzones Cycling as a heart rate based training specialist, has taught over 5,000 hours of Spinning® and indoor cycling classes and has coached hundreds of athletes and enthusiasts achieve their training goals for several years.
Do you need a coach? Look NO further than Tony Myers. Contact him at ATS- http://www.athletictrainingservices.com/
ABOUT THEIR ADVENTURE
Finish Line - Sunday June 28th, 1:26 am
7 days 8 hours 6 minutes!
Amazingly, after 3000 miles it turned into a real race to the finish as the Georgia Chain Gang was close to several other teams all day Saturday.
At time station 51, 50 miles from the finish, Team Brazil had a 20 minute lead on our guys. Tony and Jerome decided to ride together in a pace line, taking turns drafting and pulling each other in an all-out effort to catch them. David Dowdakin traded off with T & J, riding solo and increased the pace even more!
When our guys finally caught Team Brazil they blew by them. The Brazilians made a vain attempt to catch up by making frequent rider changes, but it was too late. The Chain Gang arrived at the finish 10 minutes ahead. They had made up 30 minutes in that last 50 miles.
You may notice that our team is the only entry in the 4-Person Male 50-59 Age group, so for comparison we marked our times against the youngsters racing in the 4-Person Male Under 50 group. Our time would have placed the team in 5th place in that group. Across all 4-Person teams (all ages and including Mixed teams) the Chain Gang would have placed 8th.
Of course the real accomplishment was finishing and especially doing it as a 3-person team for the last 1000 miles.
For riders this will undoubtedly be one of the greatest achievements of their lives, something they will never forget. For crew it was an incredible experience as well, nothing like anything any of us have ever done. We won't ever forget it either.
We all miss our fallen team mate, Dave Armento, he was in all our thoughts as we celebrated at the finish in the wee hours of the morning.
Finally, we must say again THANK YOU to all our friends, family and sponsors who cheered us on from afar this week. Your encourgement and excitement really made a difference.
From Annapolis, the Georgia Chain Gang
Photos: We are posting photos to Picasa every day: Photo Gallery
Donations: All our fundraising is going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. By the start of the race we'd raised over $60,000! You have contributed another $10,000 since the race began. Thanks to all of you who have contributed. If you haven't yet, please help us get over the finish line. Go to our Donation page now!
GCG website
Donations: All our fundraising is going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. By the start of the race we'd raised over $60,000! You have contributed another $10,000 since the race began. Thanks to all of you who have contributed. If you haven't yet, please help us get over the finish line. Go to our Donation page now!
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