Endurance Live Award Winners Announced

Endurance Live has been called ‘the Academy Awards of endurance sports’ by Entertainment Tonight. For the first time in four years, the long time co-host of the event, Mike Reilly, will be returing to join fellow Ironman Hall of Fame inductee Bob Babbitt as the emcees for the evening. The award winners for our 22nd annual Endurance Live Awards Gala are:

North American Cyclist of the Year:  Chris Horner. In 2013 he became the first American to win the Vuelta a Espana and, at the age of 41, the oldest cyclist to ever win a grand tour.

Celebrity Athlete of the Year: Hines Ward. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion, a Super Bowl MVP and Dancing With the Stars champion who lost 35 pounds on his way to finishing the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Male Triathlete of the Year: Javier Gomez. The 2012 Olympic silver medalist showed his versatility in 2013 by winning not only olympic distance races like the Hy-vee Triathlon with it’s $100,000 first place prize money and the ITU world championship in London, but also by winning the Challenge event in Barcelona as well as the infamous Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Male Runner of the Year: Timothy Olson. He proved that he is one of the best ultra runners in the world by winning the Western States 100 title for the second year in a row.

Female Runner of the Year: Brenda Martinez. She had the best season of her career in with wins at the BAA Mile and the Diamond League  800 in London. Then she ran a personal best of 1:57.91 in Moscow to become the first American woman in history to medal at the IAAF Track and Field World Championships when she brought home a bronze medal from Moscow.

Challenged Athlete of the Year:  Breezy Bochenek. She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 10, had her leg amputated above the knee at the age of 11 and, just a few weeks after receiving her prosthetic leg, she completed the Wildflower mountain bike triathlon with her father, Stan.

Endurance Live Industry Award: Steve Furness. He is a two-time olympian who tied the world record in the 200 meter individual medley in 1974, was the captain of the 1976 S.S. Olympic swim team and took home a bronze medal from the 1972 Olympics in Munich. He co- founded TYR sports back in 1985 and over the past 29 years, the company has been instrumental in the growth of pool and open water swimming as well as the sport of triathlon.

Running Legend: Coach Bob Larsen. He is the long time coach of Olympic silver medalist and three-time olympian Meb Keflezighi, a 2012 USA Track and Field Hall of Fame inductee and he has been called the greatest American distance coach in history.

Competitor of the Year: Mirinda Carfrae. In 2013 she broke the Ironman World Championship course record on her way to her second title in Kona and became the first female Ironman World Champion to outsplit the male champion in the marathon.

Other athletes and legends who will be there on Saturday evening, February 8, 2014 to participate in the Parade of Athletes that kicks off the gala:

Us Navy Lieutenant Commander Dr. Andy Baldwin, Scott Tinley, Matt Reed, Meb Keflezighi,Luke McKenzie, Steve Scott, Heather Fuhr, Sarah Reinertsen, Joaquim Cruz, Michellie Jones, Tim O’Donnell, Bart Yasso, Kathleen McCartney, Julie Moss, Rudy Garcia-Tolson, Josh Cox, Lesley Paterson, Julie Weiss, Heather Jackson, Paula Newby-Fraser, Lukas Verzbicas, Dave Mcgillivray, Blake Leeper, Scout Bassett and Trent Morrow.

Don’t miss out on an extraordinary night in the presence of sporting legends! Get your ticket now to this annually sold-out event.

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