Leadman latest bike-homage tri
Life Time Fitness is known for its high profile Minneapolis-based race, and its national series of the same name, featuring the Race to the Toyota Cup. All are staged over the very safe and traditional Olympic distance.
Not so Leadman Tri. Life Time Fitness owner Bahram Akradi is one of a handful of top CEOs whose outlier athletic pursuits mirror their stratospheric positions in business. Martin Franklin, Jarden Corporation's chairman and chief executive (Coleman, K2, Oster, Marmot, Penn, Shakespeare, Rawlings, Volkl, and on and on) is a confirmed Ultramanner.
Bahram Akradi's tastes run more toward the events side of the biz. If Franklin's enthusiasm for multisport played some part in his company's purchase of Zoot, Akradi's penchant for difficult events influenced this latest, very non-standard, self-inspired, epic event. Leadman Tri features a 5km swim in Nevada's Lake Mead (Ironman's swim is 3.8km), a 223km bike (138mi), and a shortish run of 22km (14mi).
Akradi's calendar will feature two events in May: the grand opening of a Life Time Fitness health club in Las Vegas, and his own participation in Leadman Tri. Akradi is competing in the full, not the half Leadman (thankfully, there is a half taking place the same day, and that race—1.5mi swim, 69mi bike, 7mi run—sounds not only do-able, but fun. Me, I'm racing the full distance, but, as a relay member (I'm the runner).
Leadman Tri is the named after the purchase, by Life Time Fitness, of the Leadville 100 cycling and running events. You have to take your hat off to these guys. They announced a race with barely enough time to train for it. Still, within 24 hours of its announcement Jordan Rapp shot me an email, evincing an interest in doing the race himself. "Right up my alley," he said. He's entered and I think Matt Lieto and Kevin Everett will be in the field too.
Half Leadman. Again with the periodic table! The element with half the atomic number of lead is niobium. niobiuman. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Palladium is pretty close to half the atomic weight of lead. Come race the Palladium! That might work. Right next to palladium on the periodic table is silver. That has potential, especially since Nevada is the "silver state." But there's already a Silverman in Vegas.
The Palladium it is (or could be).
Abu Dhabi started the long bike / short run ball rolling. TriStar has taken up the gauntlet. Leadmantri (the full and the half) follows not quite the same formula. In a TriStar race, you little more than take a shower before mounting the bike. Akradi apparently thinks you should know how to swim in order to be a triathlete. Imagine that.
Read Macca's comments about competing in a race ending in a short run (he's speaking about TriStar's events). He brings up a good point. Because the run is short, the bike ride is contested at a hotter pace. And, you have to pay a lot of attention. If you let your competition get away from you on the bike, there's not enough room to catch up after you dismount.
I wrote some months ago about Life Time Fitness not being sufficiently intrepid as a race organization. Either I struck a nerve, or I wrote too soon. Since that time Life Time Fitness seems to have been making up for lost time. I spoke to Akradi at Triathlon America's conference in late Feb, and it's clear he has a heart and a passion for—and a mission that includes—creative and interesting events.
I hope more of these half-Leadman, Palladiums, Palladia, whatever they'll be called, pop up on the calendar. 1.5mi, 70mi, 7mi seems like a satisfying day's work, but, still a race, not a survive-athon. If you have an open spot on your calendar, take a look at the first of a new breed. It takes place May 14, just outside Las Vegas. Enter a relay and you can race Monty (swim), Paul Thomas (bike) and I. Or, come on out and jump in the newest half distance. Registration is accessible via the Leadmantri's page.
