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Friends First Finishes Second!!! News alert from Karen Gaffney and Bri Maier at the Karen Gaffney Foundation: Karen and I have some exciting news to share with all of you. We took second place in our Relay Division of the “Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon” on Sunday June 3, 2007. Karen and I, along with our third team member, Kristi Kraft, formed an all women relay team and ran in the Open Division for all women relay teams. We ran under the Team name of Friends First, to help promote our Friends First clubs that we have started here in the Portland area. Our total relay time of 3 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds put us in second place for our division. The race started when thousands of top athletes from around the world jumped into the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay at 7AM Sunday morning, June 3, 2007 to begin the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Karen Gaffney was one of them! The 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the Marina Green in the 57-degree water ended adjacent to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Karen made that swim in 41 minutes, 21 seconds. Next came a grueling 18-mile bike ride through the Presidio, out to Golden Gate Park and back to the Marina Green. Kristi Kraft nailed that ride for our team in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 19 seconds. The final leg of the triathlon was a demanding 8 mile run that took athletes out under the Golden Gate Bridge to Baker Beach where they had to tackle a one of kind, 400 step sand ladder as they made the turn back to the finish line at Marina Green. Bri Maier took on that challenge and crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 11 minutes and 10 seconds to collect the medals for our team! This is the second year we have formed a Friends First Team for the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon to promote inclusion and to demonstrate that anyone- with or without a disability can compete!!! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to brag about Friends First and our accomplishments!!!
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