Grosse Ile Duathlon

I'm in. This is going to be a unique event. We have an unprecedented level of support from the community on the island and full access to the entire island. In the previous years of the event we have not been able to get this much road on the island. This year we are getting one entire lap of the island in addition to the entire airport with the exception of one runway the F.A.A. requires them to keep operatonal for aviation emergencies.

The run and bike will both use one of the active airport runways in addition to the scenic rest of the island - closed for the event of course. The run goes through a beautiful little nature preserve area with swans, geese, blue heron and sand hill cranes. You get a nice view of the water and the opening to Lake St. Clair at the bottom of the run course right before you kick back out onto the runway for your "final approach".

One of the local pilots has volunteered his helicopter for our use too- although I'm not quite sure what we are supposed to do with it exactly.

Peter Kantz, a Grosse Ile Resident and Island Board Member, is responsible for our access to the venue this year. He is a multi-sport athlete as is his daughter, a Taylor police officer. Peter has put a ton of work into producing and promoting the event with a bend on growing the event over the next few years.

Hope to see you there.

Official event website at Elite Endeavors:
http://www.eliteendeavors.com/race_grosseIle.htm


Link on Grosse Ile Airport page:
http://www.grosseileairport.com/rests.htm

Entry on active.com:
http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1517259

Check out the satelite photo of the bike course- the entire island!:
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=186982

Every done a running race on an airport runway?:
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=186980

http://www.nasgi.org/index.html

My pleasure. I'll see you there.

I had a call from Jim Donaldson, our Race Director for Grosse Ile, yesterday. He is just back from the Olympic Triathlon in Beijing where his wife, Joyce, was one of the officials.

They've added food and we actually do have a camera aircraft for the race- a helicopter! They are going to shoot some video from the air.

We're looking at relatively small participation numbers this first year we think, so it should be a nice little cozy race in just a superb setting. Sept 13, 8:00 A.M. at the Grosse Ile Airport.

Here's the link:
http://www.eliteendeavors.com/race_grosseIle.htm

All registered and ready for my first du. Sounds like a great course,look forward to it.