Anyway my great friend Chris Wayman was there to suffer alone (well with 2191 other people) in my absence. Here are some photos and what Chris had to say afterwards.
"Hi Everyone,Quick update from IM Florida. Boy were Gary and I wrong when we entered IM Florida expecting a hot flat race (as we were lead to believe). We arrived to hot sunshine and no wind. The night before it seemed a little chilly........but at 5am entering transition we were certainly shocked.
The air temp was about 5oC and it was blowing a gale. Gels had become solid and bottles of SIS we too cold to drink!! Standing on the beach watching the pro start made an April swim at Kingsdown look warm, as we watched them battle the waves...then we were off, again more like swimming in the channel (at least the water was 20oC plus). Unfortunately the swim was marred by a fatality.
After a cluttered transition we left Panama City on the single loop 112 mile bike course and we are still wondering how you only get 10 turns in 112 miles!
What made this worse was that the first 50 miles we into a 20-30mph head wind (think I prefer hills!!). A quick course but hard work.
The run was two laps around the beach resort and nature reserve (didn't dare to stop for a wee behind a bush at one point due to an alligator warning!). The support along the run was amazing, with thousands of supports shouting your name.
Huge thanks must go to our support team of Chantal, India, Kofi and Nikki.A great race, would recommend to all, especially if after good ace and a holiday
Chris Wayman 11:16:09, 446 out of 2192 (1:12:10 - 2.4mi swim, 5:35:35 - 112mi bike, and 4:22:41 - 26.2mi run) "
That's Chris talking to me on the phone after he finished. If you could have seen me, I had a smile from ear to ear but was a nasty shade of green with envy.
