Eagleman 2025: Pros, Age Groupers, and the Future of the Sport

By Henry R. Shoemaker (As published in Man & Culture Magazine July 3, 2025)

Day Three:  Thursday after a morning workout and 12-hour shift at work I loaded up the grey goose, our 18-foot team trailer with all the gear one needs to support athletes, families, and the bystanders we inevitably welcome at events like IRONMAN Eagleman.  The original plan was to grab a quick Friday morning pool swim and shove off for Cambridge, Maryland, in time to be onsite for a couple of our athletes to check in around 11AM.  Then, I would see if my recovery and fitness were going well enough to tag along with athletes on an hour-long shakeout ride.  Life had other plans.

Day Two:  The day job, which is how I support this multisport lifestyle and bike addiction, called and I had to put in a half day herding cats and managing chaos.  Not too different from managing a triathlon team as it turns out.  By the time I hooked up the trailer to the trusty Cummings powered diesel truck and pulled away, an unplanned workday and the Bay Bridge traffic turned a planned 11AM Eagleman venue arrival into a 5, then 515, then 530PM arrival in Cambridge.

As I drove into Gerry Boyle Park on a narrow single lane path with nearly 40 feet of rig, I safely avoided Sam Long with toddler in tow.  Step one of the journey is complete, make it the venue and do no harm.  I dropped the trailer and headed to the rental bungalow just a few blocks from the park to meet up with one of our pros (athlete one) and an age grouper (athlete two) who for whatever reason agreed to allow me to tag along and chronicle our misadventures.

I dropped my gear; we piled into the official team transportation and headed off on a search for food that would satisfy the pallets and tolerances of all three.  We drove around a bit aimlessly admiring the quaintness of Cambridge despite all having been there before.  The charm of the eastern shore has been the backdrop of Hollywood blockbusters but can be taken for granted by many of us who live and train here in the region.

We ultimately decided on the Hyatt hotel restaurant after a quick call to verify that athletic attire wouldn’t be a problem.  After tails of wrong turns on the bike shake out, lots of jokes from athlete two about how rigid our raceday routines were, we stopped poolside for a photo op with the bay in the background, chatted with a few fellow athletes, and grabbed the necessary supplies to hunker down the day before the race.  We shared several more laughs about the rigidity of our guts and diets for some, and the ironclad abilities to wing it for others.  Then the great debate, when to bed and when to rise.  I’m typically in bed by 8PM, asleep by 9, and awake by 3AM.  Athlete two had more fun to poke, and then, I heard confirmation of what I’ve witnessed my whole life:  Professional athletes are some of the BEST sleepers I’ve ever known.  I’m a middle-distance mid-packer myself, but I’ve had the great fortune to spend my entire life around professionals and elites across multiple sports, and now as a coach I can tell you, the vast, vast majority of Elite athletes simply have better sleep ability, hygiene, and habits than the rest of us.

Day One.  We went through our morning routines, and drove the few blocks to the park.  A couple of us hopped in the water, as I wanted to test my new Synergy Hybrid Wetsuit and it did not disappoint.  The open water watch times indicated an insane 12 seconds off my recent pool times.  I picked up my Ironman media credentials, and a couple of us headed to lunch as the Pros headed to their briefing.  I should have attended the briefing, but my gut told me to give them their space and stick to race footage, there will be other years.  Then we walked through the ceremonial dropping of the bikes, fretting over hydration and setting up choices one last time before the athletes made peace with their decisions.  I dragged them away and back to the house where we went for more laughs, mobility, and relaxation.  All three of us are parents so we talked about the trials and tribulations of growing up today.  Our children also happen to be youth triathletes, mountain bikers, swimmers, and ballers of all varieties.  We talked about the opportunities, successes, and challenges they face.  I may have dozed off for a bit and before long in what would be a surprise to no one, three triathletes left to their own devices were hungry.  We each tackled a dish, and mine involved the intense culinary ability to open a bag of prepared salad.  We all rejoiced at how much we needed and enjoyed the simple meal of chicken, rice, and veggies.  More laughs, more remarks about legendary level sleep habits, a synchronization of alarms, and it was off to dream, and a race morning wake up.

Day Zero:  3:15 AM race morning and the chorus of alarms sound.  We are all in controlled, but purpose filled go mode.  Athlete one’s husband has made his way overnight and he and I catch up about all the things as we chat about his well over 6-foot frame spending the wee hours of the night on our 5-foot couch.  Athlete two brings humor even in the early morning, and athlete one is DIALED in.  No energy is wasted and everything is on plan.  The focus is laser precise.  As a coach, and in this instance sherpa, I’m typically biased to follow the lead of the athlete’s energy unless the situation calls for something different.  Athlete one has her husband and certified sherpa on board so the role is support, anticipating needs, and helping walk through the raceday checklist without adding stress.  In other words, be the sherpa the athlete needs, not the one you think you need to be.  Athlete two needs a very different sherpa.  The emotions are a roller coaster, the rigidity of our prep is rubbing off on her and I still can’t tell if it’s a good thing, but she’s switching over to serious game face.  

We make our way to the park; athlete one disappears into the pro field and sea of media coverage as athlete two socialized with the rest of the team and coaching staff.  She masks her nerves by calming and supporting others.  This is a familiar M.O. that is easier to spot from the outside looking in.  Lots of friends streamed through as we helped the first timers get settled, and off to the start line.  Athlete two was overcome with emotion and gratitude for the day as we hugged and she headed off to the start line.  There is something special about sharing those last few minutes before the race with another athlete.  It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve toed the line; we are all more vulnerable than usual and feel the connection to others.  What we do at the middle- and long-distance racing is special, and getting to share it with others is sacred.  I’m filled with thanksgiving that these athletes allowed me into their circle.

I opted to line up next to Talbot Cox and the media crew at the swim exit rather than watching swim start, and very quickly I noticed a couple of our youth team athletes soaking in the sunrise and the palpable excitement of the pro field.  I thought about what it meant to have athletes in the pro field, coaches, relays, age groupers, and the youth team all in one place.  I’ve been speaking publicly about the future of the sport and triathlon “teams” a lot lately, and reviewing the data, I’m not always optimistic.  But, at that moment, I was as hopeful as ever that we are doing a good job of planting the seeds for the next generation.

As expected, Lucy Charles-Barclay was first out of water, and I was in perfect position for the stills and video.  Chelsea Sodaro wasn’t far behind, and in the toughest Eagleman swim conditions I’ve ever seen, athlete one came out of water 13th in the most stacked pro field Eagleman has ever seen.  She’s laser focused and looks right through me when I yell out place and time.  Athlete two started further back and the crowd of age group supporters thickens, and friends and family move in to cheer on their athletes.  It’s fun to watch the smiles as they spot their athletes coming out of water.  I get to shout words of encouragement to several of our athletes and friends of the program.  I stick it out at the swim exit as one of our athletes who had limited training opportunities flirts with the cutoff.  I wait it out to ensure he makes it since his coach is also racing the course.  He comes through still seemingly in good spirits, and I’m exhausted from all the cheering. 

I take some much-needed downtime at the team tent which has turned into a massive base camp with dozens of team chairs and every amenity you can think of for a race.

I make my way over to Bike IN to see the first few pro men off their bikes.  Then, the women’s leaders make their way in, and their run form is not lacking.  I also see the saddest sight of the day, four athletes, two men and two women from the same team roll to the bike dismount line packed together.  I tried every intellectual exercise I could to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I couldn’t come up with logic that gets those ladies ahead of the vast majority of the pro field other than their pace grouped with their male teammates.  I hope I’m wrong.  I want to think better of our sport and everyone in it. We start to check the stats on one of our coaches who’s racing and realize something must have happened early on the bike.  But he’s still moving, and the pace is considerably better so we’re optimistic and learn later it was an early bike flat that was quickly changed and the race continued well. Our athlete’s stream into T2 and out on the run.  

Eagleman did what Eagleman does and despite the relatively mild air temperature, the sun came out and the course punished those of us living in the MidAtlantic who are only provided with mild temperatures for our pre-June training blocks.  It does not matter what the temperature reading is, you will in fact visit the surface of the sun on Eagleman raceday and it will take everything you have to find the fast part of what Ironman bills as a flat and fast PR worthy course.  Sam Long pushes through to take the win.  Trevor Foley rounds the corner shortly after.  Lucy Charles-Barclay breaks the tape for the women, and Chelsea Sodaro takes second.  We had a few athletes looking for big time PRs that they couldn’t quite wrestle away from this course, but we saw some huge smiles, and it fills our heart to see our crew out there having fun while they race even when the day doesn’t go exactly to script.  

Our first timers start to trickle across with some impressive finishes, all things considered, and their coaches who have run the red carpet are there waiting to greet them.  Having fun is something we emphasize heavily in our program, and we don’t just say it, while we secretly dream about podiums, we live it as an example every day.  I know that avoiding burnout and developing a deep passion for all the training and feeling the roaring gratitude of the ability to race on race morning is what’s going to maintain and grow the sport, and I see our crew has it in spades.  Thank you, Syndicate Endurance Team, (S.E.T.) athletes from pros to first timers.  Thank you, Eagleman and Ironman Pros, age groupers, and spectators.  You’ve helped relight the fire of this 49-year-old age grouper.  I’m already eyeing the 2026 calendar to plot my middle-distance return. I hope to see you out on the Eagleman or another course, and I hope you bring the future of our sport with you.  Until then, have fun, smile big, and dig deep.