The Great Race

In this photo is my son, Dave, in the center, with friends Mike (left) and Ben (right). Two days ago they participated in a popular annual run, bike and paddle race here in our town. They did a great job and had fun. Here they are recovering from the grueling canoe leg. They called their team "Dead Last" because they didn't do any serious training for the event, and expected to place last. But they didn't! Far from it. They were pleased.

The only time Dave's cardiac condition was an issue had to do with his defibrillator. It's recommended that ICDs be kept away from strong magnetic fields. This race uses a transponder system to accurately log times. This involves wearing a small disk, the size of a coin, that will be activated when the racer runs through a magnetic field. How strong is the field? Would it trigger Dave's ICD? He didn't know and so they simply made sure that the relay person was someone else on the team. Mike, not Dave. Mike met up with the biker, then ran to the canoe, and he and Dave were off.