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Return of men’s pros should make Sunday exciting

Potts, Tollakson highlight deep field as pro men are back in Ironman Lake Placid after three-year hiatus

From the left: Age-group triathletes Derek Fitzgerald, Cynthia Steele and Shawn Booth, and pros Andy Potts, Paul Ambrose, T.J. Tollakson and Brent Mcmahon speak at the Olympic Speedskating Oval during Friday’s Ironman Lake Placid press conference. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

From the left: Age-group triathletes Derek Fitzgerald, Cynthia Steele and Shawn Booth, and pros Andy Potts, Paul Ambrose, T.J. Tollakson and Brent Mcmahon speak at the Olympic Speedskating Oval during Friday's Ironman Lake Placid press conference. (Enterprise photo -- Lou Reuter)

LAKE PLACID — It’s been three years since the Ironman Lake Placid race has featured a men’s professional field. But on Sunday, the men’s pros are back to compete in the 19th annual Ironman Lake Placid. And judging by four of the pros who spoke at Friday’s press conference at the Olympic Speedskating Oval, Sunday’s field looks like it’s stacked.

The press conference, which was emceed by famed Ironman race announcer Mike Riley, was held at the site where the finish line will be located, and the four professional men who were featured have all claimed Ironman titles around the world, including three in Lake Placid.

American Andy Potts owns two of those Lake Placid championships, and has returned to the Adirondacks where he won back-to-back races in winning the race 2012 and 2013.

“It’s a great venue, it’s a great backdrop,” Potts said. “Lake Placid actually combines two of the things that are close to my heart with Ironman and the Olympics. The fact that we get to finish in the Olympic oval where athletes earn medals in the 80s is super special.”

Potts is a former all-American swimmer from the University of Michigan who also competed in triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In addition to being one of the favorites as a full-Ironman distance competitor, he also won the 70.3 Ironman world championship in 2007.

During his stay in Lake Placid in 2013, Potts enjoyed another fond memory in addition to claiming his second straight crown in the race. That year, a welcoming ceremony was held for the Ironman triathletes inside the Olympic Center, where he was selected to carry a torch into the event and lit the cauldron that will stand in the oval on Sunday.

“It was great,” Potts recalled. “I got to keep the torch. It was engraved with Ironman Lake Placid on it. I don’t keep too many mementos from races. I think I have three, and that’s one of them.”

Speaking in front of an audience approaching 100 people who showed up for the press conference, Potts, who is 40, said it’s nice to be racing on a course he knows.

“Familiarity adds to comfort, and when you have some comfort it can add to your confidence,” he explained. “I would encourage people on the race course when they’re on the second lap, whether it’s the swim, bike or the run, on lap two you should gain a little bit more comfort — like Oh, I’ve been here before. I remember the last time around I got to the starting place, if I’ve done it once, I can do it again. Hopefully it can add to people’s confidence as well. It does to mine.”

Iowa’s T.J. Tollakson is also back in Lake Placid after winning here in 2011. usually cracked the top three in the Ironman races in which he competes.

“I look at my career over the past decade and I’ve had a whole bunch of podium finishes,” said Tollakson, who also owns the 2014 Ironman Mont Tremblant title. “Most of those races I’ve led at some point, some I’ve led up to the very end and got beat. It’s always been very important to me to be competitive in the race and try to race to win.

“All of us who have won Ironmans know one small thing can derail your day, a lot of small things can happen and you can still win, and a lot of it depends on who shows up at the race,” he continued. “I like to show up to races where there’s world-class competitors and go up against the best guys and see how I fare.”were a

Brent Mcmahon and Paul Ambrose are the two international pro triathletes who spoke at the press conference. Mcmahon is a Canadian who hails from Kelowna, British Columbia. He is a two-time Olympian who made an impressive entrance onto the Ironman scene, winning his debut at the distance in record time at the 2014 Arizona Ironman.

The 36-year-old has competed in Arizona the past three years, as well as Brazil, where he won his second Ironman crown. This year however, Mcmahon dropped out of the Brazil Ironman, and hopes he can fare better during his first visit to the Adirondacks while attempting to qualify for the world championships in Kona in October.

” Brazil this year didn’t go very well. I had to pull out of the run because I was sick leading up to the race, and I looked at this event as an opportunity to do one of those tough courses,” Mcmahon said. “I had to pull out of Brazil, and when we had to regroup it was ‘what Ironman do we do?’ I looked at this course and it looked like a really fun challenging course in a beautiful spot. The great thing about this sport is the amazing towns we get to go to and this is just another one of those check marks that I get to say I’ve been to New York and Lake Placid.”

Ambrose is a native of Australia and a first-time competitor in Lake Placid. He said the taking on a difficult course was one of the inspirations that brought him here.

“I don’t think I’m known as one of the most talented athlete,s but when a hard course and a hard day comes out, I think it evens out the scale,” Ambrose said. “That’s why I like the harder races. I knew this was going to draw a big field. There aren’t many pro events in North America this time of year. I saw that it was a pretty hilly bike course and a tough course in general so that was one of my drawing cards coming into this event.”

Three age group athletes, two with interesting stories who are attempting their first Ironman, and a five-time Ironman who should be an inspiration to all, also talked to the crowd gathered on Friday.

Shawn Booth, the winner of the 11th season of the television show “The Bachelorette” will be looking to reach the finish line Sunday in his first Ironman.

“I’m a former body builder, I grew up playing all different kinds of sports, (and) I’ve always said Ironman is something I want to achieve one day in my life,” Booth said. “This year was just perfect timing, and I just figured I would just go for it. I still haven’t run a full marathon yet. I’m kind of an all or nothing guy. I like to challenge myself and this was another step in doing that.”

When it comes to being active, Cynthia Steele fits the description, and she hopes to add Ironman to her list of accomplishments. A mother of three and the Manger of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., Steele lost 50 pounds on the way to achieving her goal of participating in triathlon.

“I’ve wanted to do an Ironman for a really long time,” Steele said. “I had a goal to do a triathlon by the time I turned 40 and that’s the first time I did an Iron girl, and I didn’t know when I might ever be able to fit one of these in. I’ve done six 70.3s and juggled the training with my crazy schedule in life. The Ironman training has really been a challenge but a good one.”

For Derek Fitzgerald, life is all about giving back. A five-time Ironman finisher, Fitzgerald is a cancer survivor and the recipient of a heart transplant. Although hobbled by an injury and not in the field Sunday, he still came to Lake Placid to take in the scene and also spoke at the press conference. He offered some advice to many of the first-time competitors who were soaking up the sun in the bleachers.

“When you do survive all these things, you learn a lot about yourself,” Fitzgerald said. “One of the things that I realized along the way is I didn’t take care of myself. I didn’t put the time, the care, the energy into investing in myself. I’m thankful to be here. I’m on my third chance at life and I live every day like my donor is watching, and it’s an honor to be here.

“I would just remind you that you are going to have down moments and you are going to have up moments,” he continued. “Let those up moments carry you through the down, and when you’re feeling down, that up moment is right around the corner. You are stronger than you think. Ultimately this is more of a mental sport than a physical sport.”

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