(Mod Post #61)The news we've all been waiting for....

Izoard

Lance to race IM in 2012...:)

tunney will be thrilled - showdown in Roth?

ThisRegard

I hate you that you made me click on that link and read all those sickening sycophantic responses.

tunney

Not a chance. Will be an IM Branded race. Dope testing in Roth is too strict.

mloc123

Lance always makes me feel better about my bike position... if thats the best a pro can do.

KentuckyPete

tunney wrote: »

Not a chance. Will be an IM Branded race. Dope testing in Roth is too strict.

Yep - makes sense. IM branded races already change the rules by shortening the distance of the run so it would be no trouble to "go easy" on the testing.

Massive mutual advertisement and revenue for Livestrong and the IM brand

Brianderunner

mloc123 wrote: »

Lance always makes me feel better about my bike position... if thats the best a pro can do.

He broke a bone in his back when he was younger IIRC so he had to ride in that position, didnt effect him too much obviously.

ThisRegard

Brianderunner wrote: »

didnt effect him too much obviously.

Drugs are good like that.

shotgunmcos

I'm so dissapointed, thought this thread was going to be about Chrissie

nerraw1111

I don’t get why all you guys are against finding a cure for cancer?
Be interesting to see how he goes.

How is drug testing in Ironman? <<Snip>>

<<Snip>>

shotgunmcos

Lads, lets not wonder about Doping on this thread please.

nerraw1111

Apologies Shotgun.

Just thought it would be ok to discuss since he received a ban. No worries

Izoard

tunney wrote: »

Not a chance. Will be an IM Branded race. Dope testing in Roth is too strict.

Ya think?:rolleyes:

You can imagine how long they've been chasing him - massive bucks for the WTC and an opportunity to make it even harder to get into a US IM...

Notwitch

Izoard wrote: »

Ya think?:rolleyes:

You can imagine how long they've been chasing him - massive bucks for the WTC and an opportunity to make it even harder to get into a US IM...

latest news...

lots of 70.3s, IM Nice and target Kona.

mloc123

http://livestrong.org/racewithlance

griffin100

I suspect any IM branded race which Lance graces with his presence will probably double it's entry fee:rolleyes:

I suspect he'll do well racing as an AG'er in IM France, he does now how to climb a hill a two.

edit: just seen Mloc's post.........

Izoard

griffin100 wrote: »

I suspect any IM branded race which Lance graces with his presence will probably double it's entry fee:rolleyes:

I suspect he'll do well racing as an AG'er in IM France, he does now how to climb a hill a two.

edit: just seen Mloc's post.........

He raced Xterra as a Pro - would think he'd do the same here?

Oryx

Pro sportsman does sponsored racing thing. Yawn.

Race with Lance and wear his colours. Why? I'll wear me Oryx colours ta very much. Do people really do this? Go out to beat him or something, or to say 'we're team Lance, go us!' It's bad enough that Ive been suckered into the IM brand (first and last, btw, its a money pit). Dont try to make me into a feckin groupie as well.

Fazz

In the press release, Armstrong also announces that he will be competing at Ironman 70.3 Panama, Ironman 70.3 Texas, Ironman 70.3 Florida, Ironman 70.3 Hawaii and Ironman France. The release also states Armstrong’s goal is to qualify for the 2012 Ironman World Championship, to be held in Kailua-Kona on Oct. 13.

Panama is this weekend afaik so be good to see how he measures up.

You know Macca and co would love to race against him on home turf so to speak (triathlon vs Cycling).

Looking forward to seeing how he goes

onimpulse

He did start as a triathlete so probably no surprise really.

I dont get the cynicism around him to be honest. At least he's using his fame for a good cause. I don't really care if he makes a few quid out of it - he is a professional sportsman.

Cancer awareness & research benefit more from him doing this sort of thing than not so that's it as far as I'm concerned. Plenty of people in a position to do good don't bother.

Maybe it will raise the profile of triathlon too?

kennyb3

onimpulse wrote: »

He did start as a triathlete so probably no surprise really.

I dont get the cynicism around him to be honest. At least he's using his fame for a good cause. I don't really care if he makes a few quid out of it - he is a professional sportsman.

Cancer awareness & research benefit more from him doing this sort of thing than not so that's it as far as I'm concerned. Plenty of people in a position to do good don't bother.

Maybe it will raise the profile of triathlon too?

Oh dear. i ll say no more for fear of being banned. Open your eyes and mind.

El Director

Well for anyone interested you can track him here.

A savage swim IMO. Perhaps it was short.

mloc123

El Director wrote: »

Well for anyone interested you can track him here.

A savage swim IMO. Perhaps it was short.

1:01/100m :eek:

Down stream?

Edit: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5295995 - short

El Director

Only one time split for the bike, not even a timing mat at the turn but I reckon he will be first coming off the bike, or second to Christ Lieto. Wonder what his run is like.

mloc123

El Director wrote: »

Only one time split for the bike, not even a timing mat at the turn but I reckon he will be first coming off the bike, or second to Christ Lieto. Wonder what his run is like.

His run seems decent so far.. He is on for a 69min

El Director

As predicted, second starting the run Lieto first. Lieto bike split - 2:10:08, Armstrong 2:10:18.

tunney

I love you Bevan.

couerdelion

2nd place. Beaten by Bevan Docherty in the last km of the run.

Not a bad first race at all for him.

shotgunmcos

couerdelion wrote: »

2nd place. Beaten by Bevan Docherty in the last km of the run.

Not a bad first race at all for him.

+1

eoglyn

Does anyone know the strength of the pro field for that race? afaik the guy who won it is preparing for london, and while both him and armstrong are undoubtedly savage competitors how does it reflect the standard at these events that a superannuated peddler can turn up and beat most of the full time triathlete pros with minutes to spare

MrCreosote

The field was pretty good, but I'm not sure that you can compare the different athletes too closely in this kind of event. They're all at different stages of the year- the ITU guys are probably aiming for a bit of a training hit-out as they focus on London. Docherty has a big race in Sydney in April to even qualify. The IM athletes are at the very start of their season and probably only want to get some points and races in to qualify for Kona.

As for Lance, who knows? The cynic in me would say the IM lot probably don't mind the whole media frenzy around Lance coming second: more media=more interest in IM=more money/sponsors etc. He'll get smashed in the longer distance anyway- his run will be exposed much more.

MrCreosote

Oh, and the first three were not dope tested. Very unusual apparently.

tunney

eoglyn wrote: »

Does anyone know the strength of the pro field for that race? afaik the guy who won it is preparing for london, and while both him and armstrong are undoubtedly savage competitors how does it reflect the standard at these events that a superannuated peddler can turn up and beat most of the full time triathlete pros with minutes to spare

No top tier 70.30 pros there.

mloc123

MrCreosote wrote: »

He'll get smashed in the longer distance anyway- his run will be exposed much more.

I wonder did his run fall apart or were the distances for the splits incorrect.

eoglyn

No doubt they loved the media frenzy and that was evident in the coverage - to be fair i wouldn't have followed it as closely or at all if i wasn't curious to see how lance would do.

MrCreosote wrote: »

Oh, and the first three were not dope tested. Very unusual apparently.

I would have thought he'd be preparing his arm while running for the line if in fact he was clean in order to clear any doubt about it this time. But then that would defeat the purpose of random testing.

Is it a rule that one of the top three finishers get tested or does it just tend to generally happen? If the latter then i don't think you can read into it too much - randomness and all that.

No top tier 70.30 pros there

I can't see that being mentioned in much of the media coverage of the result

wideball

"@rasmushenning: I thought it was practice to drug test Top3 and not just random from 4th and down? That was not the case at 70.3 Panama."

Rasmus Henning was 4th...

griffin100

What valid reason could there possibly be for not dope testing the top three but testing those who didn't win prize money? Are the WTC trying to find and suspend those athletes who are so crap that they cant win an event even when on drugs? I'd be a big fan of random dope testing of AG'ers but in conjunction with the testing of all those who win prize money.That said I don't think for a second that LA is currently juiced up, he's been lucky so far, why take the risk now?

MrCreosote

The rumour is that his deal with WTC includes a no-dope-test-for-Lance clause. So the real question is, if you know you're not going to test positive, and you can boost your performance with a little juice, and you really really really want to do well...why wouldn't you? Hell, it'd be just like cycling in the 90s!

griffin100

MrCreosote wrote: »

The rumour is that his deal with WTC includes a no-dope-test-for-Lance clause. So the real question is, if you know you're not going to test positive, and you can boost your performance with a little juice, and you really really really want to do well...why wouldn't you? Hell, it'd be just like cycling in the 80's, 90s, 00's, 10's

FYP

pgibbo

tunney wrote: »

No top tier 70.30 pros there.

Who would you class as the top tier 70.3 pros? Lance aside, AFAIK it was Bevan Docherty's first 70.3 - I'm assuming it's highly unusual for someone to win their first outing at the distance if there was strength and depth in the field.

shotgunmcos

pgibbo wrote: »

Who would you class as the top tier 70.3 pros? Lance aside, AFAIK it was Bevan Docherty's first 70.3 - I'm assuming it's highly unusual for someone to win their first outing at the distance if there was strength and depth in the field.

It was his second. He did one about 10 years ago again clinching it on the run in the final kms. He has been an olympic medallist twice and races at the pinnacle of triathlon sport.

Not bad to finish just 40 odd seconds behind him after 4 hours racing. I recognised a few of those names in the top 10 too, enough to believe there is substance (excuse the pun) in that result

pgibbo

He's as competitive as ever - see here.

tunney

pgibbo wrote: »

He's as competitive as ever - see here.

Total fuvckin c0ck

mloc123

Its pretty amazing what 18months of out of competition off the radar 'dedicated' training can do for you.

Last marathon he ran was around the 3hr mark?

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

Its pretty amazing what 18months of out of competition off the radar 'dedicated' training can do for you.

Last marathon he ran was around the 3hr mark?

Man I love this band, had great craic at them in Slane. This is my favourite song of theirs

MrCreosote

Great comment from Docherty:

"It's quite an honour to see a seven-time Tour de France winner and someone you admire standing in second place below you on the podium. It's a highlight of my career."

Nice little dig.

nerraw1111

According to Docherty, Armstong came up to him shortly after the race and apologised for not shaking hands. Said he might've been a bit wrecked after it with the effort and media frenzy.

Still not a bad effort if you take his performance at face value. I'd say a few triathletes might be worried. It'd be a kicker if you're top of your game and Armstrong beats you.

Chartsengrafs

mloc123 wrote: »

Its pretty amazing what 18months of out of competition off the radar 'dedicated' training can do for you.

Last marathon he ran was around the 3hr mark?

I remember his first attempt was around that. Pretty sure he did somewhere between 2.40 and 2.50 at some stage since though.

Chartsengrafs

Also I think this is being blown out of proportion, I watched the last five minutes last night, he ran by Docherty alright but he looked pretty wrecked. I didn't notice it as a 'snub', he just seemed happy to be finished. Was quite surprised when I read reports today.
And I ain't no L.A. fan. Just find this a bit sensationalist. Unless there's something else I missed.

onimpulse

kennyb3 wrote: »

Oh dear. i ll say no more for fear of being banned. Open your eyes and mind.

Would you care to expand on that and perhaps explain your point of view or can you?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

wideball wrote: »

"@rasmushenning: I thought it was practice to drug test Top3 and not just random from 4th and down? That was not the case at 70.3 Panama."

Rasmus Henning was 4th...

If i was Henning i would be raging. Cannot believe none of the top 3 were tested, it just brings more question marks about L.A being legit and WTC doing there usual media whoring around him....anything to sell more entries.

Abhainn

Basster wrote: »

I remember his first attempt was around that. Pretty sure he did somewhere between 2.40 and 2.50 at some stage since though.

He was paced to a 2:59 in New York in 2006 by the great Hicham El Guerrouj and said in a post interview "For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done." Hmmmm :rolleyes:

12 months later he came home in 2:46