COMMUNITY

Congratulations to all of our athletes that competed this weekend! We had athletes race the Youth Elite Canadian National Championships, the Night of Miles race, the VA State Championship Criterium, Ironman Switzerland, The Lifetime Fitness New York City Triathlon, the RVA 2 DC cycling event, and the Tuckahoe YMCA Youth Triathlon camp. Great work team!

Nick Pilgrim took 12th overall at the Youth Elite Canadian National Championships.

14 year old Kieran Haug ran a breakthrough mile PR at the Night of Miles running 4:59!

Samantha Kayne took 1st place at the VA State Championship Criterium in Newport News. She won all three cycling events designated as part of VA Cycling Omnium 2016, raced in multiple road races around the state, and is now an unofficial BAR (Best All-around Rider) winner for girls 11-12.

Deke Nina finished his first Ironman in 14:44 at Ironman Switzerland.

Matt Schiller was 7th overall at the Lifetime Fitness New York City Triathlon with a breakthrough race!

Congratulation to all of our athletes that completed the RVA 2 DC Cycling event!

Congratulations to all of the youth that participated the Tuckahoe YMCA Triathlon camp coached by Endorphin Fitness. Great work Zach, Ana, Teagan, Hayden, Trevor, Cameron, Camden, Maddie and Zach!

When you strip it down to the core, why do we exist? I believe every person, every athlete, every family, and every organization needs to know this. Your core purpose directs why you get up every morning and the decisions you make throughout the day. Though not always easy to identify on first look, it is woven within the fabric of most things we do. It should motivate you, sharpen you, and allow you to leave this world a better place.

Several years ago, the leadership at Endorphin Fitness sat around a table and stripped why we exist down to the core. We dug deep into our motivation and explored the parallels between departments. One motivation rose clear to the top: “to transform lives.” On the surface, we help people be faster and stronger – at which we are very successful – but we do this to be a catalyst in their lives for something greater. We want sport and fitness to permeate other areas of one’s life – otherwise known as “Live Red.”

Every week, we honor an athlete of the week by sharing a person’s story in our newsletter. This week’s athlete – Dawn Carter – exemplifies our core purpose. After life pushed Dawn down several times, she found the ability to get up and fight back through the sport of triathlon. Through this, she has also impacted the lives of everyone around her. Congrats Dawn and thank you for “living red” daily.

Be More. Live Red.
Michael Harlow
EF Founder & Head Coach

Huge congratulations to the Speak Up Team who raced Challenge Roth Ironman this weekend in honor of Cameron Gallagher. This team included EF’s Coach Parker Spencer who finished in 10:06 and PJ Gallagher who finished in 14:41.

The other day we had a new athlete make a shocking statement to us. He said, “Do you know you are the only endurance coaches in town that believe in strength training?” He was drawn to this fact as someone who knew the benefits of strength. It is shocking to us because strength training has tons of research backing it up. More so, it is done regularly by the best athletes in the world. Here is why Endorphin Fitness coaches don’t compromise on strength training:

We could not be more proud of all of our athletes that raced this weekend! Being able to experience the joy of an athlete succeeding in their goals is what inspires us to do what we do. This weekend was an overwhelming success with athletes reaching goals all over the country. We had athletes race the REV3 Williamsburg Olympics/Half Triathlons, the USAT Iowa Youth/Junior Elite Cup, Ironman Muskoka 70.3 and the Tri-Span 10k.

The REV3 Williamsburg races were on a complete different course this year in a great venue. With temperatures in the 90s it made for tough conditions to race through but our athletes handling the heat very well. We had 22 personal best times between both races!!! In the Olympic, Megan Merryman was 1st overall mature female with a huge PR and over 6 minute lead on second beating many of the professional triathletes in the race. Julie Patterson was the 4th professional female. Freddie Shashaty(PR) and Richard Tangard both placed 1st in their age groups. Donna Norris(PR) was 2nd in her age group. Coach Andrew(PR), Kelly Britt(PR), Tina Shriver(PR) were all 3rd in their age groups. John Caldwell(PR) was 4th in his age group. Coach Margaret(PR), Scott Evans(PR) and Eric Glymph were all 5th in their age groups. Brad Johnson was 2nd Clydesdale. Nancy Faux and Coach Parker had a great relay together! Emily Hayworth(PR), Matt Myers(PR), Sarah Look(PR), Erika Jurkowsi(PR) and Rich Taylor(PR) all had great races!
In the Half, Cheryl Shaw(PR) won her age group. Glenn Young was 3rd in his age group. Mike Devlin(PR) was 3rd Clydesdale. Jacqueline Bethel(PR) was 2nd Military female. Andrea Bovo(PR), Jack Martin(PR), Scott Dixon(PR), David Fouse, Greg Mathe(PR) Brian Lilley(PR) had a great race. Lenora Mariner had a great bike leg in a relay with a PR for the bike distance!

Another strong weekend for our High Performance Team at the final junior elite race before nationals. Carson Everman raced the junior elite female race finishing 44th with a strong race despite a shoulder injury earlier in the week. In the junior elite male race, brothers Alex and Stephen Tan had strong races finishing 44th and 47th respectively. In the youth elite female race, Meghan Buchannan led the way finishing 9th followed by Bridgette Kim in 21st. In the youth elite female race, Justin Free finished a strong 16th followed by Nick Pilgrim in 24th also with a strong race.

At the Colonial Beach Sprint, EF athletes took 2 of the 3 overall podium slots on both the men and women’s side! Coach Michael took 2nd overall followed by Matthew Piper in 3rd on the men’s side. 14 year old Hannah Ye took the overall win followed by Abigail Church in 3rd with only 8 seconds separating the top 3 overall women. Callie Hammer also won the aquabike division overall. Coleson Lindsey, Bill Deaton, Chloe Ramirez, and Kaitlyn Yasnowsky all won their age groups while Gabe Palmer Julie Julian, Alex cancado and Marisa Ruotolo took 2nd in theirs. Strong races also from John Clarke and Meredith Walsh with both finishing 5th in their age groups. Shannon Baird also had a great race.

Pace Palmer was 1st in his age group at the Colonial Beach Olympic.

Kieran Haug raced the Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon with an 11th place overall and 1st place age group finish.

At Ironman Muskoka 70.3, Travis Fehr finished 3rd in his age group and qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships next year. Ashley Gibbs and Rachel Myers both had strong races.

Samone Franzese was 2nd overall female at the Tri-Span 10k.