Podium finish highlights an unusual triathalon season for Bradley

Contributed Photo – Scott Bradley races to complete a podium finish at the Ironman 70.3 Eagleman.

A podium finish at the Ironman 70.3 Eagleman for the second year in a row highlighted what was a most unusual summer of Triathalon competition for Lyndonville native Scott Bradley.

Bradley, who earned a spot on the Male Pro Awards Podium for the first time in an Ironman race last year with a fifth place, finish successfully repeated that feat by finishing sixth out of 23 Male Pros and sixth overall out of 2,288 participants.

A 70.3 triathlon includes a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile (half marathon) run.

The swim being his weakest discipline of the three in a triathlon (despite countless hours of practice in the water), his hope has always been that an event that he was in would have to cancel the swim for some reason.  His hope was realized at Eagleman.  Less than half an hour before the race/swim start, the swim was cancelled because of a Small Craft Advisory for the body of water where the swim was to take place.

Thus, the race was reduced to just the bike and run disciplines.  The Male Pros drew numbers to determine their starting order in a time trial start where a Male Pro would start every 45 seconds.

Bradley rode the second fastest bike time for the day in a time of 1:59:24, the fastest time in his 70.3 career.  Riding at an average speed of 28.14 miles per hour, he ended up only twenty-seven seconds behind the top bike time.  In the nearly 20 year history of this race, these were the first two bike times ever recorded under two hours.

Bradley’s run of 1:24:38 earned him a total time of 3:25:55 and a 6th place finish out of the 23 Male Pros and 6th place finish overall out of 2,228 participants in the race.  With this 6th place finish, Scott earned another spot on the Male Pro Awards Podium, this being the third time he had done that in his last 5 races.

Next up Bradley competed in the Ironman Lake Placid but unfortunately this turned out to be the second DNF (Did Not Finish) of his career.

A full Ironman includes a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile (full marathon) run.

He came out of the water 29th out of 30 Male Pros in a time of 1:04:05.

On his bike, his strongest of the three disciplines, he rode the 12th fastest time of the day in a time of 4:53:34, averaging 22.89 miles per hour for the 112 miles.  In doing so, he climbed to 16th among the Male Pros.

However on the run, he ran into trouble.  His body shut down and stopped perspiring.  In order to avoid the possibility of heat exhaustion or heat stroke, he was forced to pull out of the race.

Then, in order to break up his training for Ironman 70.3 Augusta later in September, he entered the Finger Lakes Triathlon.  This is a rarity for him to race locally.

With the swim cancelled in this event because of excessive algae in Canandaigua Lake and the bike route shortened because of permitting issues, this event ended up being a 1 mile run, 19 mile bike and another run of 6.2 miles. He easily placed first by over 6 minutes.

Bradley’s planned schedule had him finishing the summer portion of his season by racing Ironman 70.3 Augusta. Ga. on September 29.  However, misfortune struck again, this time the Monday before the race he became ill with head and chest congestion.  Not able to recover in time for the race, he had to withdraw. (DNS – Did Not Start).

Wanting to compete in one more race in 2019, he is currently entered in Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells-La Quinta (CA) on December 8.

Bradley is the Assistant Principal at Byron-Bergen Junior-Senior High School.