A great result for Maccabiah cyclists
Cycling captain Sean Bloch beamed that he ‘couldn’t have asked for a better result’ after his amazing team picked up four more medals at the 20th Maccabiah Friday’s road race, backing up their fine time trial results.
Sean Bloch, Alex Lehrer and Dan Katz
In brutal conditions in Modiin, Alex Lehrer won silver in the 30-39 age group; Bloch the claimed a silver in the 40-49 category while Mark Schneider snared a bronze in the 60+.
As a result, the team took home a bronze in the team’s event once their best times were added up, meaning a further medal for Alex and Sean, while Dan Katz was part of that success as well.
‘It was an absolutely brutal race,’ Bloch said afterwards.
‘The Israelis kept attacking, attacking, attacking and the internationals weren’t chasing together.’
He added: ‘It was just brutal. A hard climb and every lap people were dropping by the wayside.
We had to dig deep after every climb. I couldn’t ask for a better result.
The Israelis were too strong. Would’ve loved gold but it was impossible against that company. At the end of the day a fantastic result for both teams.”
Lawn Bowls
The lawn bowlers are tasked with the most rigorous competition of them all – eight hours a day, every day at the Games, in the scorching sun ~ but they love it!
Each game goes for just under three hours – it is a thorough examination of their concentration and consistency, particularly when the Israelis have bowlers there, some of whom are gunning to qualify for the European championships.
Few would have been on their court/turf/field longer than Garry Benveniste, Gary Lasky and Brian Rosenberg were for their lawn bowls triples silver earlier this week.
Triathlon
Despite a last minute change by organisers to shorten some of the distances due to the extreme heat, the well prepared Australians still proved a force to be reckoned with across various age groups.
Skipper Brett Yudelman described the swim as “the warmest I’ve ever swum in”, saying that instead of getting out refreshed, it was so hot athletes were sapped heading into the bike leg.
Nevertheless, “the Aussies went in strong, with good preparation, and focused on racing – despite all the chances that happened in the previous 24 hours,” Brett explains.
Yudelman, who won golds in 1993 and 1997, paid tribute to his 1997 teammates when accepting his medal, as well as dedicating his medal to injured IDF soldiers. It was a fitting thought, given Brett had met some of the injured soldiers who were valiantly competing in the triathlon. “One guy had an eye missing, the other a false leg,” Brett said. “Some were injured in the Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon War, 2000 – they were all racing as well.”
A special congratulations to Michelle Kaye, the lone female amongst the medal winners. The training paediatrician was so dedicated to her Games pursuit she took months of work to be at her best here in Israel. Impressively, she also overcame an Achilles injury – an injury that can blow at any moment again – in the lead up to still succeed.
