Race Day 9 Post 1

Gyuri (left) and Ferenc Szonyi are brothers in law. Gyuri is married to Ferenc's sister. Ferenc is doing quite well in the race.





Claire/England (left) and support crew for Neil Kapoor, Michelle Santilhano South Africa who did the Quintuple and Alan/Canada and support crew for Stephen Johnson competed in the 5k race held yesterday. They are holding cups of beer that were being handed out. What a way to finish a 5k and have beer put in your hand. Hydration!



Yves Beauchamp of Montreal Quebec Canada is the first to cut off the toes of his shoes so they don't rub his feet. There will be more of this and the heels will be cut off as well.





Roxanna/Texas (left) support crew for Eileen Steil of Georgia (right)








Typical support crew table on the side of the road - perfect height so athletes don't have to bend over and everything is right there at their reach. Fluids, food, chems, etc








The long side of the road showing multiple tables and some crews sitting out waiting on athletes

Something I want to apologize for - I really shouldn't have to apologize but the warning sign you get when you log onto the blog - I have requested twice for them to remove the blogger warning and it still has not been done. As soon as I posted the first blog on Wednesday before I came down here, I was emailed about it being a potential blogger violation of terms and that I had 20 days to request a review and removal. I did that within minutes of me posting the site. So Google has not lived up to what they are supposed to accomplish. I just requested a removal a couple days ago and still no relief.

I had Luis update his program so the Internet results page would show the split between laps. He had done this on the local screen we see, however he had not merged it in the internet one – so now you can see what the racers are doing each lap.

9:45 a.m. David Clamp is still off his feet, the doc and Sally is working on them now, his shin is looking better but he has been off it since last afternoon. He will be off it the rest of the day and if not significantly better he will head to the hospital.

9:50 a.m. Emmanuel (Manu is his nickname) has not run since before yesterday, he has a decent walking pace, you can see his left shin is taped up. So he is maintaining his position somewhat.

11:05 a.m. Suraya is on the table getting her left heel and right instep worked on. Ice at first - now they are bandaged. She just got an ice bag put on her lower back as it is hurting her. She tells me it is from the swim, it didn’t hurt during the bike but now that she is on the run, it is hurting pretty bad. The instep on her right foot is from the bike shoes.

Michael Gaertner and Antal Voneki still have good form and decent run laps. Michael is doing two or three runs laps and then a walk lap. Neill is just coming thru and has good form still.

Different people have different ways of keeping track of laps – even with the results on the flat screen TV. Stephen Johnson puts a mark on his hand with a pen to signify “another one bites the dust”. I have been teasing him about getting blood poisoning and he won’t be able to finish the race.

All the Deca IRON athletes are using running shoes; Arthur Puckrin in the Quintuple ran (or rather walked/slogged) in MBT sandals http://www.swissmasaius.com/Default.aspx?lang=en-US
Some have brought multiple pairs and switch out after a few laps (Stephen Johnson has done this). I know Guy Rossi has three pair with him. Stephen has like five pair.

Peter Leffert’s keeps going round and round trying to get his bike finished – still trooping away. He is missing the rest of the party we tell him.

1:30 p.m. The big news of the day is that the Coke people finally made it here with ice and water. We had just run out of water and the ice we didn’t have any – as it is getting quite warm this afternoon. Jorge was on the phone a few times with them – red tape stuff. But we are fine now and everyone is happy. To a point.

Mariee-Josee of Quebic City, Canada - support crew for Guy Rossi and the person who has been doing the Bowen Technique on many people.

Luis of Mexico is the support crew for Beto Villa also of Mexico

Day 8 Post 2

Wicked Wanda of Canada - support crew for Stephen Johnson.

Some of the racers are using strategies in running. Neil Kapoor England is running two walking one. I believe Stephen Johnson England is doing the same. Yves Beauchamp of Montreal, Quebec, Canada is maintaining a strong walking pace.

Emmanuel’s left shin is taped up and he has been having problems all day with it. Kari’s left heel is swollen and he is having problems walking on it. Beto too is still having problems with his feet and left knee.

11:15 p.m. Two people left riding – Eileen and Peter. They both keep going. Peter just took a power nap and is going out again till late morning. Eileen has 28 laps left, if she can stay on the bike for a while, she will finish soon. Peter still has a ways to go, he is planning on noon to 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.

11:30 p.m. Mother Mary (Arthur Puckrin’s wife and super support crew) just made a cup of tea for herself and Suraya Oliver England as she heads out to start the run course. Kari is calling it quits for the night, he stops by the med tent to check in for a moment – he heel is still hurting and I also notice his left hand is swollen. You can hardly see his knuckles cuz of the swelling.

11:55 p.m. Half of the racers are sleeping – so it is quiet around here. Uusally when the racer is sleeping so is the support crew. So later tonight it will be like a graveyard around here with only a few out on the course. The die hards! The zombies! Neill Kapoor has been going since 7 this morning and is going to call it quits soon.

12:15 a.m. Was walking away from the kitchen facility and noticed David Clamp and his partner/support crew Sally hobbling over towards the bathroom so I went over and helped carry David between the two of us. His feet were really hurting.

12:30 a.m. I think I am going to call it a night. Only a few racers out there – it is very quite.

Day 8 Post 1

Noddy (aka Paul) support crew for Neil Kapoor England, who just got here two days ago to help out

Sam, son and support crew for his dad David Clamps England

Mary, wife of Stephen Johnson England

Nicholas, support crew for Kari Martens Sweeden, just got here two days ago and below is Oliuer (pronounced Oliver), son of Kari

Was at the race course at 6:00 a.m., it was very quite still, very few racers were out. Three are still biking – Eileen Steil and Peter Lefferts of USA and Suraya Oliver of England. Suraya will finish this afternoon on the bike.

Most of the athletes are pretty much walking/shuffling/slogging (slow jog) now. A few are still running ~ Michael Gaertner Germany who just started late last night and Ferenc Szonyi Hungary is managing some runs. Kari Martens Sweeden is looking like a zombie, his face is drained. He is managing a slow shuffle as is Guy Rossi France (Guy started this at the beginning). David Clamps left shin is really bad looking, not sure he put in too much running in the beginning but the area around his left shin is red and swollen a little. His partner has been giving him periodic foot treatments. Marcel Henig Gerany started off fine but has a slightly looking faster shuffle than Kari but you can see the strain in the way he shuffles.

Emmanuel Conraux of France was limping around pretty good this morning but currently he is looking better. He had a bad start to the race with the swim, coming out last after having a bout of throwing up and then getting hypothermic

Mario Rodriguez Mexico goes in spells of walking then he will get a few slogs in. Antal Voneki Hungary just came by in a slow jog, he is one of the last to star the run, Stephen Johnson Canada after him and then Carlos Ochoa is the most recent. We will see what these guys look like by tomorrow. Emmanuel just came by me, which is noon time here, and he is walking but doesn’t have the limping he did earlier, maybe it was from just getting up and that earlier morning

11:45 a.m. The Quintuple athletes are preparing to head out to their awards ceremony and you can see chafed lips and some sores on Andreas and Elke face and lips from the sun and racing.

Beto Villa's foot, the pad is swollen and he has a couple blisters on both feet, the feet out here will get worse.

12:30 Beto Villa Mexico was on the massage table getting the balls of his feet worked on – there are a couple of blisters there and you can see the swelling in that portion as well. He also got his knee bandaged as well.

1:05 David Clamp England is on the doctors table getting his ankle worked on again. It is pretty red and inflamed and the doc gave them some antibiotic and pain killer for it. They also found a website to show how to properly wrap the ankle for shin splints so after icing it for a while and elevation, they will wrap and off he will go again. Antal, Ferenc and Michael are the only ones with a decent kind of pace, at this moment.

Day 7

Timing tent








Neill Kapoor/England (left) and Michelle Santilhano/South Africa living in California









Super Support Crew Rick Freeman. He crewed for Wayne Kurtz and also helped 4/5 people with bike issues, especially tires.

Kari martens of Sweeden

Still a little chilly this morning, the temps over night were 48F/9C and breezy. Today the sun finally came out about 11:00 and the temps are moderate now. Not too hot for them (it was a nice 66 deg this afternoon) – as the mood has started changing with the bikers finally getting off the bike. Another race is starting to form now and the better runners are strategizing to chase down the biker guys. Already Emmanuel has gone from last place out of the pool to currently 6th place, and running is his thing. Tho his crew has said he is battling bronchitis. Half of the athletes are now on the run.

Harn Wei dropped out of the race last night, he got an MRI and it did show a tear in his knee. So he will work on it the rest of the winter and see what he can do next year.

David Clamp is another one that did well on the bike and is currently in 2nd place, running well. His partner and support crew Sally will work on his feet when he stops for a formal food break, working on one while the other is in a icy tub. Petra has also been working on Kari’s feet as well when he stops. A few of the athletes have been getting massages from their crews at different intervals, trying to work out kinds in the muscles. Every little bit helps in this race at this distance. A few minutes now can mean big gains in the long run.

Marie-Josee of Quebec City, Canada and a support crew of Guy Rossi has worked on quite a few of the racers. She specializes in the Bowen Technique of Massage www.bowtech.com, and a few of them have been requesting her now.

When I came down this morning for breakfast and to check on the riders, Antal was riding in jeans. This lasted a couple hours then he switched back into regular bike pants. For a period two days ago, Suraya was riding in jean shorts. I don’t think that lasted long.

Speaking of breakfast, more pancakes and scrambles eggs, one batch had meat in them, the other one had diced potatoes. There was that rice pudding that everyone loves, more refried beans, the tacos that were left over from last night, hard boiled eggs, sliced carrots and potatoes, cereal and they made some dessert stuff using the wafer cookies, about five cookies in a pile with this lemon sauce – they were quite tasty. I had the ladies make me some easy fried eggs to go with the pancakes. I am sure I will have more pancakes tomorrow morning.

During his breakfast, Stephen Johnson’s crew had his Lightspeed bike ready for him, which he had agreed to before breakfast, he stops for a few hours every night. Near the end of his breakfast, he mentioned he wanted his bike prepared. So off come the lights and his pedals from the Lightspeed to go on his second bike. Since then –he has been turning in some consistent fast speeds. Speaking of bikes, they are all looking ragged from the dust around here. Look like those dune buggies that do the desert racers and end up caked with dirt and mud everywhere. Monterrey is a dusty place and the track here has dust everywhere. A few people have had problems with shifting and a quick clean of the derailleur’s and oiling fixes that.

Dinner tonight was mashed taters, macaroni salad, potato/carrot salad, chicken broth, oatmeal, rice, rice pudding, spaghetti, refried beans, scrambled eggs. I heard earlier this afternoon the ladies had made some potato and cheese fritters. By t he time I went to check and get one, they were gone. If something is good – you need to get it quick as people find out quick and jump.

Gonna close this post out for the night.

Race Day 6 Post 2

Ben Beauchamp, race photographer and brother of Yves Beauchamp, and Josee, support crew for Yves, Montreal Canada







Ilde, support crew and wife of Antal Vonecki, Hungary








Rick Freeman, support crew of Wayne Kurtz, Pennsylvania








Gloramis, support crew of Carlos Ochoa, Spain

Don (left), support crew of Elke Streicher and Marcel Henis of Germany; Helmut, support crew of Andreas Buscher of Germany; and Gyuri, support crew of Ferenc Szonyi of Hungary

Harn Wei is still experiencing problems with his knee and is currently riding using one leg – trying to get some mileage in. His support crew finally arrived today from Singapore, he had been using a few other people sporadically.

Michael Gaertner has not had the race he was expecting. With a great swim start, he had constipation problems on the first day of the bike and finally got that under control on the third day of the race. However he has experienced five flats on his bike – there have been few other flats by other racers. I believe maybe four other people, maybe five have had flats but it has only been one a piece. All the bikes are in need of a good cleaning, after having ridden 1,120 miles or close to that, they are filthy with the dust off the road.

A few of the athletes have congestion/sinus problems. Marcel Henig has sinus problems and checked in with the doctor. After finishing the bike ride late last night, he retired for some sleep and this morning, I heard him blowing his nose and he had a head full of congestion. I was told by one of Emmanuel’s support crews that he has bronchitis. And I have heard a few others with a hacking cough.

Supper tonight consisted of a tortilla chip/cheese mix, refried beans (we are in Mexico remember, every meal), grilled hot dogs, boiled eggs, cooked sliced carrots, cooked sliced potatoes, cheese/potato tacos, rice, rice pudding, scrambled eggs and diced potatoes. Some of this we will see in the morning we know. There will be more items cooked and put out as the night wears on. They just put out some more tacos, these made with a ham/bologna looking stuff and cheese.

Farid, Jorge’s son who works for Monster Energy drinks, was here again today. Not too many people were drinking ice cold Monster drinks. It was a day more for hot drinks. Brrr was it chilly all day and still just as cold if not colder. The sun peaked out a few times and you could feel the beginnings of some warmth, then it would hide again. Ben Beauchamp, the photographer, came around our area complaining this was supposed to be Mexico, where was the sun and warmth and the mutual answer back was, you haven’t gone far enough, you need to keep going south. Oh yeah – you must have taken the wrong flight, this was Monterrey California. Wrong Monterrey. Many jokes about the weather today. I even went back to the room this afternoon to warm up a little bit and put on another shirt under my fleece.

We have had a few people arrive today, new suspport crews. Annie, wife of Guy Rossi; Nicholas, friend of Kari Martens; Sanjeev, friend of Harn Wei; and TJ's photographer have been added to our entourage.

Arthur is about to come in and finish the Quintuple and I will post this, last for the evening.

Jorge has 24 hour police that guard our area and make sure we are safe and the few vehicles that try to come down the road do not.

Wayne Kurtz (left) and Rick Freeman after a well deserve nights rest and "SHOWER" for Wayne. First one since Sunday. He was stinky.

Bllue Demon aka Yves Beauchamp making an appearance

Neill Kapoor getting his daily medical check, along with his support crew Claire

Race Day 6 Post 1

First things first – the important stuff. Why we are all here.

Wayne finished third in a time of 111 hours and 40 minutes while Elke came in fourth with 112 hours and 26 minutes. That equates to
Andreas 4 days 7 hours 45 minutes
Michelle 4 days 12 hours 14 minutes
Wayne 4 days 15 hours 40 minutes
Elke 4 days 16 hours 26 minutes
Arthur has 97 laps done
Silvia has 73 laps done


Andreas Buscher with TJ Murphy of Triathlete Magazine










Michelle Santilhano










Wayne Kurtz





Erika Streicher and boyfreind Marcel Heinig congratulating her on finishing

I am in the kitchen where it is warm typing my updates and just generally staying warm. Using my powers of being part semi staff, I acquired a section of a table in the back of the kitchen, trying to stay out of the cooks way. In order to get Internet, I need to stand up and hold the laptop in the air, over the window counter where people are getting their food. The temps yesterday were 81F/27C but turned to windy and 47F/8C overnight and the high of today will be 55F/13C. Tomorrow will be high of 65F/18C but getting back up to mid 70’s/21C to 80/27C. they were calling for slight showers today, lets hope they stay on the other side of the mountains, we sure don’t need that.

Breakfast consisted of more porridge/oatmeal, scrambled eggs with the left over hot dogs from last night (midnight food), pancakes, rice pudding (they made it for us when I asked late last night – it is a hit around here), sliced potatoes and hard boiled eggs that were from last night as well as sopa’s (small corn tortillas) stuffed with a variety of cheese and meats. Things are recycled around here, what is left over from one meal with find it’s way in something else somewhere else.

Well I need to correct another wrong from a couple days ago. The black birds that entertain us during the day and at night are called Hurracas. I mistakenly called them a Grackle.

Over the late part of the night, Kari Martens of Sweeden got off the bike first and has 22 laps on the run done and Marcel Heinig of Germany is off the bike as well and has eight laps done. The rest sure wish they were off the bike – mainly because of the wind and cold, much harder riding in this stuff than running/slogging.

The Deca IRON athletes have to complete 938 bike laps while they complete 223 running laps. Round and round and round we go. We joke – you bike one way then run the other to unwind yourself.

The Stephen Johnson crew have made the following T-shirts to wear – once the weather get warmer. They read (in Spanish) left to right –
1) Go ahead, ask me about me feeling
2) I am the sunblock and lubricant masseuse
3) Mr Johnson would rather have a pap smear
4) Dave’s not hear man!
There is, of course, meanings within the group, about the meanings. This is also the group that was giving Stephen trivia questions during the swim – to keep his mind off swimming. He turned it around and was giving them questions as well and this has continued on the bike too.

Harn is still getting some therapy on his knee and hopefully will start riding later this afternoon. He was off for a while yesterday with ice and some therapy and tried again but had troubles. So he stayed off last night and this morning so we will see what happens. Long way to come and lots of money and training to have to quit now.

Lunch consists of left over porridge/oatmeal, rice, tortillas, a gravy looking mixture with beans and some vegetables, a steak and vegetable stir fried concoction. I have to mention the tortillas are all hand made here. I watched them making some yesterday. Some of them they use a rolling pin to make the sopa’s with, they others they have a press to make them super thin and grill them then we get them hot and put stuff in them and eat away. These ladies are great cooks and most things are done fresh.

Let me close out this segment – a kinda funny. It didn’t hurt him much as he only had two more laps to do. The Quintuples have 468 laps to do on the bike but the Deca’s have 938 laps to do (468 x 2 = 936) – for some reason that is the way it is. Anyway – Dave Clamp's son told him he was done at 936. a couple people mentioned he was done but he didn’t listen to them and Dave headed to the room, passing over the mat on the way which set off the next to last lap telephone ring (that is the signal you get to let you know last lap) and when he came back from the room his bike set off the last lap final time. He started on the run when people realized what happened so when he came back from that run he put on his bike shoes and helmet and did his proper two laps on the bike and he just ran past me with a smile on his face. It could have been worse, but it was only two laps, less than 10 minutes.

Our room, there are 4 sets of bunk beds. After the last guy gets here, we are full of stuff hanging around

Marcel and Elke's table full of race supplies, notice the non-alcoholic beer on the middle shelf, popular with athletes in that they get calories with no buzz.

Suraya Oliver of England

Mario Rodriquez of Mexico

Michael Gaertner of Germany

Race Day 5 Post 2

Injuries! A few have happened. Harn has taken the rest of today off till tomorrow morning, his left knee is swollen and he was stopping every five laps to ice it down and it wasn’t working. So he will see how it feels in the morning when he starts again. Neil Kapoor is having a left arm/hand problem. His upper left arm is itchy but his fingers are swollen and he has trouble moving them. He had ice bundled around it for an hour and that didn’t help so he has just taken Reactin (sp) five minutes ago so we will see what that does. Eileen has been walking around trying to find something to take that will make her sleep. She has laid down a few times but can’t crash out – as tired as she is. She is looking like a zombie. Actually a few people are.

A couple people haven’t mentioned yet are Ferenc Szonyi/left and Antal Voneki/below from Hungary. Both great guys. I am able to understand Ferenc alright and his support crew Gyuri but do have trouble with Antal’s English. His wife Ildi speaks even less. Both are doing well.

The race is on between Michelle Santilhano holding down second place, and running scared, and Wayne Kurtz behind her (he is really hurting and is just able to keep moving forward) and then Elke Streicher who is running faster laps but as long as Michelle can keep her pace going, she should hold on to second place. Elke will probably take third place.

Suraya Oliver is another one of those quite racers. She just does her thing lap after lap. Not sure what she has plugged into her headphones, but whatever it is, does the trick.

Carlos Ochoa/left and Beto Villa/right

I need to apologize to the Spanish Triathlon Club for not getting Carlos Ochoa’s name correct. On the sheet of paper that Jorge gave me, it is spelled Carlos Ochoa Domingo so I, an American, figured his last name was Domingo. Well I got a comment on the blog last night correcting that. I had a chat with him earlier and he explained that Ochoa is his fathers name and Domingo is his mothers name. Spanish people will have two last names, the first being the fathers and that is what you go by normally. So an apology from an ill informed American. I try. So many customs and languages to learn I need to start bringing my wife Cindy with me to help keep me straight.

We got Wanda and Mary sitting across the way whistling at all the guys when they bike by. They were busy all day making team T-shirts to wear the rest of the way.

Well Michelle just finished, taking second place in a time of 108 hours and 14 hours.