Monday, July 6, 2009

GEC Elite Team

So far, the inaugural year of the Grasky Endurance Coaching Elite Team is shaping up well. With GEC, Zoot, Trisports.com, Cycleops, Genuine Innovations, and Rudy Project as sponsors, the Elite Team is set up well and flying fast in GEC colors.

The ultimate question, of course, is how are we doing?

Kathy Rakel is our short-course queen. She started out by winning a local trail race series, then won the TX Best of the US Championship and will be representing her second state in the BoUS National Championship this fall. After that she was top 5 in St Anthony’s in FL and qualified for her pro card a few weeks later at . Just last week, Kathy won her age group and qualified for Clearwater and the Ironman 70.3 World Championship at Buffalo Springs Lake Tri.



Brian Barrett is burning up the XTERRA circuit with an overall win at Deuces Wild and an age group 2nd at the West Cup in Las Vegas. He is sitting in 2nd in the 30-34 age group in XTERRA points, just one race out of first. In a rare road triathlon appearance, Brian finished 2nd overall. Not bad for a fat tire guy.

Brad Hendron has been solid. He was 6th overall at Tempe International as a ‘B’ race, then he finished 2nd overall at Deuces Wild Half Ironman. That qualified him for the HalkMax Championships. But that’s not good enough. He went on to finish 5th in his age group and qualify for Ironman 70.3 Worlds at Buffalo Springs Lake Tri. (He missed a Kona slot by only 5 minutes! Grr!)

I’m cycling now, and won the AZ State Road Race champs. It’s a different type of sport, that’s for sure!

These athletes each represent a different aspect of triathlon and sport and life in general. But what do these athletes have in common? Lots. An intense drive and desire for success (podium slots); a desire to inspire others to greatness; and fervor for life in their quests.

Thanks to all the sponsors and their wonderful help. Look for these and all the GEC athletes flying in Green and Black at the local races near you. They’ll be easy to spot…they’ll be on the ones on the podium.

Brian

1 comment:

Brad Hendron said...

It should also be noted that Kathy qualified for the 2009 Ironman World Championship in Kona at Buffalo Springs, but opted not to go...this year ;) Congratulations to all!!