Saturday, July 18, 2009

Age-Grouper of the Week

I was listening today to IM Talk, a podcast created by a couple of triathletes from New Zealand. They have this segment called "Age-Grouper of the Week" where they highlight an extraordinary age-group triathlete.

This week their age-grouper was Gary Taylor. It was funny hearing them say (Use your best New Zealand accent here) "Gary Taylor from Little Rock, Arkansas". We all know he's a phenomenal athlete but his nomination was as much for helping someone else as it was for his race performance.

As he was getting ready for his wave prior to the Austin 70.3 last October he noticed someone struggling in the water in the group that went off before him. This person was having an anxiety attack. According to IM Talk Gary went out to offer help and the swimmer was still in full attack mode and tried to pull Gary under with him. After a little struggle Gary manage to help this person to shore safe-and-sound.

After that Gary went off with his wave and torched the course to the tune of a top-5 age group finish earning a spot at the 70.3 championships in Clearwater!

Great job all the way around, Gary! Congratulations.

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