This year we have thirty Team EN athletes toeing the line at Ironman® Lake Placid! Including family members, we’ll have well over 100 folks in town to spread the EN vibe!
They are a hearty, interesting bunch, as their bios below reveal. There truly is nothing typical about an Ironman® or the people who choose to participate. Learn more about the Team and the unique individuals who make up our Lake Placid crew below. You can also track them online on race day using our Team Tracking Sheet here: View the Sheet.
Suzanne Kinsky: I currently live in Silver Spring, MD where I work in the HIV prevention field. As a Rochester, NY native, I consider myself an honorary member of the Western NY sleeper cell. I started open water swimming in the Adirondack lakes when I was 15, so racing Placid for my first Ironman® was an obvious choice. When I started doing triathlons in 1999 my dad would often join me on the run leg as a bandit. At the time it was equally humiliating and touching. He’ll be on site in Lake Placid but I don’t think he’s planning to jump into the marathon..
Steve Perkins: I’ve been competing in triathlon for 7 years, and have done Ironman® Wisconsin twice (2004, 2007) with a personal best of 12:27 in 2004. I’m an endurance sport junkie, and would love to do Ironman® every year, but in the interests of family harmony, this will be my last full Ironman® for several years.
I am an attorney from Denver, Colorado. I work at a large healthcare/medical device company in Boulder that builds electrosurgical and tumor ablation devices. Chances are that if you’ve ever had surgery, one of our devices was used on you. I handle products liability and patent litigation as well as patent prosecution and licensing transaction. I’ve been married to the same terrific woman (Laura) for 10 1/2 years, and we have fraternal twin boys, age 3 1/2.
One interesting fact about me… I am also a twin (identical), and my brother, Dan, will also be competing at Lake Placid, and will be my guest at the team dinner on Friday night. Good luck to the team! See you in Lake Placid.
Joe Priore, 34 (should be in M35-39 group because I turn 35 in November), from Amherst, NY (suburb of Buffalo). 3rd IM (USA’04, Canada’05, then took long IM break because I have 2 little girls, Mariana,4.5 and Giada, 2.5 yrs old – wife and Mariana will be up for race)
Basically looking to right all the wrongs from the 1st 2 IM’s, nail EN race execution.
Kevin Walter (not racing this year but 7 IMUSA’s under his belt!): I am not racing this weekend, but have done 8 Ironman® races from 2004-2009 with 7 consecutive IM-Lake Placid finishes. Next IM will likely be Regensburg in 2011. Looking forward to cheering and taking lots of pictures as this will be the first Ironman® I’ve ever been at where I wasn’t racing! Accompanied by my lovely wife, Ellie who is a marathoner (work on her for Marathon Nation!) and children Sara (9) and Emily (6). By day I am a neurosurgeon at the University of Rochester.
Picture is before the start of Lake Placid last year with Ellie.
Kevin Barr: Hey Team EN Haus, my name is Kevin Barr and am based out of The Woodlands, Texas. Happily married to my wife Amy and have three amazing kids, Lauren 7, Luke 5, and Logan 3. I have been with the EN Team for a couple years now and I call this place home. Lake Placid will be my second Ironman, as I did the Hawaii Ironman® the past October in Kona. Our house is crazy with ironmans this year. I have Placid and Florida on the books, and my wife Amy is doing Hawaii and Cozumel! No such thing as a quiet household. Mix that in with a couple ironkid races, and we call this place Team Barr. Very excited to see everyone up in Lake Placid!
Jed S. Vanichkachorn: Look forward to seeing you on Thursday night. Will be there with friends and their daughter. I believe that you met Sam at Couer D Alene last year. This will be IM number 5 for me but have been trying to juggle my orthopaedic practice, training, and schooling on the weekends for a MBA. Using IM USA as training for my repeat attempt at Cozumel this year since it owes me some karma from last year. Hope to represent EN nation well though as I have remained injury free this year!
Eric Voboril: Lake Placid 2010 will be Eric’s 3rd Ironman® race and 2nd with Endurance Nation. He started triathlonizing for 4 years, although he was running and cycling a lot before that. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Eric has no kids, but he does have an accordion and a mandolin that he plays with. He’s a little disappointed that synchronized swimming has done nothing to make him a faster swimmer (he’s not joking about synchronized swimming: www.fluidmovement.org).
Jeremy Dodds, Age 41. Currently from Skaneateles, New York (Finger Lakes region) but I grew up near Boston. My wife, Kristin, and I have two daughters: Morgan is 9 and Lauren is 6. I am a school administrator who focuses on reforming poorly performing high schools. I have been a runner and a biker all of my adult life and then some. I was a Category 2 bike racer at one time and my PR for an open marathon is 3:02:30. I did my first triathlon in 2001 and have been doing multi-sport races since then. I was a member of Team USA for duathlon from 2007 to 2009. In 2007 in Richmond, Virginia, I won the Long Course 35-39 AG Duathlon World Championship and I placed 4th in 2008 when it was in Belgium. I am sponsored by Hammer Nutrition. Swimming has always been difficult for me so I hope to survive the swim, have a good bike, and then have a strong run. I joined EN in the spring and this will be my first IM. Good luck to everyone!
Dave Halligan: 41 years old, two great kids, Aidan, 7 and Julia, 4. Married to a tremendously wonderful woman, Caroline who encourages and supports my endurance lifestyle and truly is my best friend.
First IM was Lake Placid in 2008. First OW swim was the Thurs before the race, my bike was a road bike with clip on aero bars, no power meter, and I did not train with pace.
Regardless, I followed the plan and finished with a smile on my face and officially became an Ironman.
2 years later, I have a few more OW swims under my belt, some more experience on the bike, training with power, a pretty decent TT bike setup, and all run training has been using pace. I’ve added some experience and bling, but none of it will matter on Sunday unless I stick to the plan and execute a good race.
I’m hoping my calves, hip, and glute behave on Sunday as they’ve all given me a hard time this year and have interrupted my run training way too much for my liking.
Racing on Sunday will be a celebration of the journey I’ve been on pursuing this endurance lifestyle and reaping all the benefits it has to offer.
I hope to become an Ironman® for a second time, finishing again with a smile on my face.
Dana Sharp, 31, Fairport, New York. Married to Douglas with beautiful, soon-to-be 2 year old, Abigail. Also residents of the house: Barney, Brittany Spaniel and Bailey, Yellow Lab. Second year with EN, first IM with EN, although 2nd go round with the LP course. The first Lake Placid in 2007 was all about the insurmountable challenge. This time it is about completing the insurmountable challenge while being a full time working mom. This one is about celebrating life, fitness and family…and showing my daughter that ANYTHING is possible!!!!!
Terry Wyatt: Athlete bib #1770, from the Bluegrass State. IMUSA will be my third IM in as many years (IMLOU, IMWIS). I am a middle school band director in Florence, KY and have a lovely wife-Louanna & 15yo daughter-Claire. They (along with in-laws) will be joining me this year in Lake Placid. Our home base is the KOA on Whiteface & we plan to station the fan club/cowbells up that climb out of Wilmington. Thanks to coaches RnP for making my weakest link (bike) much stronger and my run much smarter this year. Good Luck to all of EN -USA this weekend!!!
Derek Sumida: I was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii. Currently living in New York City where i work as a physical therapist. I have been participating in triathlons since 2007. Past race distances have been a mix of olympic and HIM races. Lake Placid 2010 will be my first full ironman.
Barbara Pudiak: This is my first Ironman® and I am very excited. It has become a family event. I think my husband Steve, of 33 years, and 21 year old son, Dylan are more excited than I am. Lake Placid is like a comfortable old friend to us. We have been going there for 15 years since Dylan is a cross country ski racer. This Ironman® is a very personal challenge also. November 2009 I was diagnosised with Breast Cancer. Three surgeries later, I am cancer free. It was the commitment to doing this Ironman® event that I focused on to help get me and my family through that difficult time.
Carly Costanza, first IM at Lake Placid this year. I have trained (and lived) in 3 different areas of California in training for this race (Orange County, Palm Springs and San Jose). I also rode in Salt Lake City, UT, Lake Placid and my hometown Rochester, NY. I currently live in Boston, MA, where I plan to stay for awhile.
I have competed in 2 marathons, including Boston in 2005. I have done a few sprint triathlons and my first 1/2 IM was last year.
Goals for race day are to enjoy the experience and have fun.
Mike Allen: 43yo, racing as44. I live on Nantucket Island, Nantucket Native (which is a dying breed) been doing Triathlon for 3 years, this is my 2nd IM 13:20 in IMKY last year, I got into tri b/c of health issues doc wanted me on BP and Cholesterol pills, happy to say lost 55 lbs to date and no meds at all!!!! Just a lot of hard work. Looking to race smart, patient and steady at IMLP, Perfect world goal would be sub 11 but anything in the 11 hr range would put me on top of the world!!!
Thanks again for all of your help in getting me here and I look forward to seeing you in LP and a very long relationship. Can’t wait to kick Halligan’s ass at the 2011 TOC!!!! Rest up P…you have and unfinished business in Cali!!!
Atif Malik: I live in Milford, CT. Racing at age 31. This will be my 1st ironman. I have done a couple of 1/2 IM and 2 marthons before.
Back to triathlons after 1 year off because of injury (have a lot of hardware in my arm). Hope to have good race in lake placid, and finish the marathon with a smile on my face.
p.s the doc who operated on my elblow is racing IM LP also, I hope to pick him up as road kill after mile 18 🙂
David Martin (Docmartin) — I have been with EN for the last 1 1/2 years. My first IM was with EN, and even with my own screwups, I managed to finish strong at LP last year. I am married with two children (10 and 13) and with my schedule I cannot train the 30+ hours/week that my tribuddies do. They have commented that I am faster than last year (we’ll see), but that is accomplished with relatively very little training time (compared to them). I am still amazed that I can go the IM distance, and feel OK the next day. Last year in LP on Monday morning, it seemed like I was the only one in town that wasn’t limping around. I am looking forward to LP this year, and I feel I should easily beat last year’s time with execution alone.
Tracy Wood: I am really just so happy to get to the line! Lake Placid will be my third Ironman.The other two were Florida in 2002 and Coeur D’Alene in 2008. I am making a come back after a string of injuries began in fall of 2008 while training for Philadelphia marathon. I had to miss all races planned for last year. It has been a rocky road leading up to Lake Placid. My goal is to finish, enjoy the day and celebrate being able to do a sport I love. I am sure the experience of my other two Ironman® races as well as my prior ultramarathons will come in handy. Grateful to be part of Endurance Nation, and have learned a ton! good luck to me fellow team mates.
Cary Blanco 44 Atlantic Beach, NY
Marketing / Media / Artist Relations for Samson / Hartke / Zoom
Endurance nation member since November 2009. I’ve been competing in triathlons for three years. I’ve previously done a few sprint, Olympic and 70.3® distance events, Lake Placid will be my first Ironman. My goals are to enjoy the day, see my Endurance Nation and Runner’s Edge teammates on the course and send them positive vibes, finish the event with a smile on my face, and see my friends and family at the finish line. Bonus goal: party like a rockstar Monday night 🙂
Lou Marrero from Montville, NJ, bib number 1892. This will be my first Ironman. Celebrating my 49 birthday today. I will be at the meet the team on friday morning and looking forward to meeting everyone!!
My name is Fergus Whelan and I’m from Dublin Ireland where I live with my wife (Carol) and 2 children (Cuan – boy, 6) and (Tuathla -girl, 4). I am a civil engineer specialising in the construction of wind farms. I’ve been involved in triathlon for a loooooong time (first race 1986) but still consider myself a novice. This is my third time doing Placid and am I hoping for better weather than my last visit here in 2008. Training has gone well this year although I am feeling tired now. Roll on race day!
Mike Graffeo: This will be my first shot at doing a full Ironman. I’ve been doing tri’s for 5 years, and have completed 2 marathons. Goals on the day are to 1) finish, 2) run the marathon, and 3) break my open marathon PR. My wife, 2 kids, father, sister, and brother-in-law will all be supporting me, and my cousin is also racing. The kids’ fun run is every bit as exciting to me as race day itself, because I get to be a spectator for my kids!
Leave a Reply