Sports Medicine Physicians Staff Ironman Lake Placid 2024
As Ironman Lake Placid celebrated its 25th year, Albany Medical Center stood ready to assist any participants in need of medical attention.
For the special anniversary, 3,000 athletes competed in the storied triathlon: 2.4-mile swim in Mirror Lake, followed by a 112-mile bike course, and then a 26.2-mile run, ending in the Olympic Oval.
Physicians from Albany Medical Center have staffed the race’s medical tent for at least 10 years. This year’s team included Brady Bowen, DO, Melissa Gerfin, DO, and Hamish Kerr, MD, as well as former sports medicine fellows Ivette Guttmann, MD, and Tommy Barber, DO, and fellows from elsewhere in New England. The event’s medical director, Tracey Viola, DO, completed her family medicine residency at Albany Medical College.
Albany Med Health System staff provide care at athletic events throughout the region, but the Ironman medical tent is unique.
“The incredible endurance required for this race has its own physiology,” said Dr. Kerr, a triathlete. Typically, the medical team sees people with severe dehydration, exercise-related heat stroke, sodium depletion, and post-race collapse, where after hours of exercising not enough blood is circulating to an athlete’s brain. “The vast majority are in good shape—you have to be to complete the course.”
The race starts at 7 a.m., with first finishers about 8 hours later. The course shuts down at midnight, giving athletes 17 hours to complete the distances.
“It’s a great learning opportunity for the fellows who just started in sports medicine,” continued Dr. Kerr. “For the athletes, it’s an unbelievable achievement and the medical team gets to celebrate alongside them.”