Tag: triathlon

One of the most powerful players in the women’s game set to race a half Ironman to raise money for Jane Park’s daughter Grace

Anne van Dam is hoping to finish a half ironman race in less than six hours

Last week, Anne van Dam placed 10th in the LET’s season-ending Andalucia Open de Espana. This week: She’s hoping to finish a half Ironman race in less than six hours.

Players last week in Spain told her she’s crazy. The triathlon’s total distance is 70.3 miles, and it begins with a 1.2-mile swim, followed by 56 miles of biking and a 13.1-mile run.

Players, however, also believe the inspiration behind van Dam’s decision is pretty amazing. She’s racing for Grace Godfrey, the 2-year-old daughter of LPGA player Jane Park and husband Pete, a long-time caddie on tour.

In the summer of 2021, during the Volunteers of America Classic in Dallas, Grace was hospitalized with seizures and brain swelling.

As van Dam noted in her social media post last month, Grace is still having seizures and undiagnosed epilepsy. Some of the needed equipment, hospital treatments, specialized therapies and accessibility features in the family’s home are not covered by insurance.

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The Dutch player set a goal of raising $50,000 and many in the golf community have already stepped up to donate. Even players who aren’t in van Dam’s close circle have done what they can.

“That’s special,” she said.

A five-time winner on the LET and a member of the victorious 2019 European Solheim Cup team, 27-year-old van Dam first began competing on the LPGA in 2019. While she often runs during the season and takes long bike rides to clear her head, swimming, she said, messes up the feel that she needs for golf. She got back in the pool this week to train.

The race is slated for Dec. 4 in Indian Wells and La Quinta, California.

“So far this week I’ve done two 1,500 meter swims,” she said, “which were a little tougher than I expected.”

One of the longest players in women’s golf,  the ultra-athletic van Dam said she got into racing triathlons when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the tour for several months in 2020. Nothing quite like this though.

Certainly nothing that carried so much meaning.

“She called me and told me her plans and, of course, I burst into tears,” Park told lpga.com. “I can’t imagine doing any of those things (in a triathlon) but to do them all in a row is just mind-boggling. And to do them in California when you played in a tournament in Spain last week, it’s insane. But we are so grateful. For her and for everyone.”

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Swimmer attacked by muskie while training for triathlon

A triathlete from Ontario, Canada, learned a painful lesson recently while swimming in Lake St. Clair: Muskies might mistake your extremities as prey, and they have dangerously sharp teeth.

A triathlete from Ontario, Canada, learned a painful lesson recently while swimming in Lake St. Clair: Muskies might mistake your extremities as prey, and the fish have dangerously sharp teeth.

Matt Gervais, 39, was bitten on the right hand Aug. 13 as he trained for an upcoming event with a friend. “It was a lot of pain [and] it hurt really bad, right away,” he told CTV News.

Gervais was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he received 13 stitches. He’s still awaiting clearance to resume training.

Gervais said that after the muskie struck he looked down and saw that it was still latched onto his hand.

“I caught it eye to eye, underwater with my goggles,” Gervais said, adding that what he saw after the fish let go was “carnage.”

Trevor Pitcher, a professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, told CTV News that the muskie probably mistook Gervais’ hand for a small fish.

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“The word ‘mistake’ is key because we’re very confident that they don’t intentionally bite people,” Pitcher said. “In reality it’s not very common so humans – and especially human flesh – [are] not part of the muskie diet.”

Gervais, of Windsor, told the Windsor Star: “Some crazy things have happened to me while training, but this is probably the craziest.”

Muskie image is generic

Muskies, or muskellunge, are found throughout much of the northeastern U.S. and as far south as Georgia.

The fish are apex predators wherever they occur and strike with remarkable speed and ferocity, making them incredibly popular among anglers.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., the world record has stood at 67 pounds, 8 ounces, since 1949. That muskie was caught at Lake Court Oreilles in Hayward, Wisconsin.