The top local finisher in the 2005 Ironman Wisconsin race was Andy Meehan, a second-year University of Wisconsin law student.  Meehan surprised many in the Madison running community, because he was a first-timer in the competition.

Capital Times columnist Rob Zaleski, who interviewed Meehan a few days after his victory in the Madison event, wrote in the September 21 edition of the newspaper, “. . . Meehan is well aware that many in the local running community are still scratching their heads over his impressive showing – he finished in 10 hours, 39 minutes, 18 seconds or 40th overall – and muttering, ‘Andy who?’”

Meehan, who earned a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard in 1998, spent six years overseas doing counter-intelligence work for the Air Force, including seven months in Iraq and neighboring countries in 2003 in, Zaleski notes, “weather conditions similar to Ironman Wisconsin,” which took place in record-high temperatures on September 11.

Meehan told Zaleski that compared with the “pretty austere environment” he experienced in the course of this service, “relatively speaking, suffering for a few hours on a bike isn’t all that bad.”

Meehan told Zaleski he hopes to participate in the event again sometime in the next couple of years, “because he wants to experience the whole thing at least one more time.”

Submitted by on September 27, 2005

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