Teresa and Charlie Woodhouse make the podium at Ironman 70.3 Arizona. Teresa’s award appears larger than Charlie’s because it is. She won first place and he had to settle for third place; something he’s become accustomed to by now.
Karin Bivens
Well, your SaddleBrooke neighbors, Charlie and Teresa Woodhouse, can arguably claim that honor after both completed the Ironman 70.3 Arizona Triathlon in Tempe on Sunday, October 18.
According to the All World Athlete Age Group Rankings Program from Ironman.com, which ranks each athlete who participated in a Full and Half-Ironman (70.3 mile) event in 2015, Teresa and Charlie stand alone as a couple in the 65 to 69 age group. In the IM 70.3 rankings, Charlie ranks fourth in the U.S. and sixth in the world and Teresa ranks second in the U.S. and third in the world.
Charlie pointed out, “Of course, there are fitter people than I as well as Teresa, but it appears from the combined rankings of both full and half Ironman distances we’re the top ranked ones who are spliced and share a last name.”
“I would have ranked higher,” said Teresa, “but I only completed two events this year and got first in both. In a third event, I was the only competitor in my age group and all I had to do was finish. But, I crashed my bike and needed to be transported to nearby Texas Tech University Hospital in Lubbock with a concussion. An EMT at the scene asked me if I had already swam or if that was next to come, and I couldn’t remember I had finished the 1.2 mile swim just an hour earlier. I must have really been out of it! I’m back to normal now, or as near as I was before. Well, there’s 3,500 points flushed away. But, so it goes. Triathlon is like a symphony all the pieces have to line up for a successful race. You can’t claim to do Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and say ‘we have great violins but we don’t have a chorus.’ No chorus, no Ninth. Fall off your bike and whack your head, DNF (Did Not Finish), even if you had a pretty good swim, which I found out I did.”
Charlie takes pride in coaching his wife who routinely out ranks him in these events. “Well, it is a nice consolation to see her win her event, even if I can only manage a third place like what happened in Tempe. There are some really good geezers who show up at these things. One thing I’ve come to understand while living in SaddleBrooke is that Fortuna may smile on someone, but she doesn’t keep smiling indefinitely. Teresa and I try to make the most of the opportunities she sends our way while we can. Who knows what tomorrow may bring? Back in Wisconsin they had a saying, ‘Make hay while the sun shines.’”