If you’ve been following the RAAM site, you already know our boys came in during the wee hours of Saturday morning at a total elapsed time of 6 days, 13 hours & 13 minutes, and an average speed of 19 mph. That’s good enough not only to beat the 70-75 record which was the “official” goal of Team United 4 Health, but also the 60-69 age group record (which was, as an open secret among racers and crew, the real target for our ambitious team)!
Here’s a pic of racers and crew at the finish line, as the sun was dawning over the Annapolis harbor:
The “mostly” caveat above refers to an unexpected (and, as yet, unresolved) twist revealed to our team for the first time at the finish line. It seems that some individual who intends to enter a 4-man 70-75 team next year decided the torrid pace our gang was setting would not be equaled anytime soon, so they reportedly did some birthdate math and, on the contention that our four racers’ average age was actually below 70, lodged a protest with RAAM officials about the purported new record … even before it was set!
Leaving aside questions like whether a future, potential entrant even should have “standing” to challenge a current (or soon-to-be current) record, or how our team was allowed by RAAM officials to enter and race in the 70-75 category without, apparently, confirming that they qualify for that category, the decision by the race director to “allow” the protest and to announce it to the team as they crossed the finish line after a grueling week of racing to set the record reflected remarkably poor judgment. Needless to say, the news cast a bit of a pall of confusion and disappointment over what should have been an unequivocally joyful occasion.
The controversy will be worked out in the days to come, and United 4 Health should have both titles to which they are entitled properly bestowed upon them. But, whatever the outcome, the significance of their feat will not be diminished: these four men, averaging approximately 70 years of age, rode their bicycles continuously across the country – 2,993.5 miles – in under 7 days. Words like awesome and amazing simply cannot do justice to the enormity of the undertaking or the accomplishment.
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