Recent News and Events

Local elite triathlete is aiming to return to the Ironman World Championship in Kona.

Posted in News, Performance Enhancement, Triathlon.

February 12th, 2013

Finish Line PT to Sponsor Triathlete Garen Riedel


Finish Line PT is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring local elite triathlete Garen Riedel this year in his quest to return to the Ironman World Championship in Kona. In 2012, Garen was the top New York finisher at the Ironman U.S. Championship in New York City, finishing 28th overall — the 5th overall amateur and 2nd in his age group.

Stay tuned for future blog posts on a variety of topics (many of which he’ll probably come up with while spending hours on the bike on Saturday afternoons), including: the importance of flexibility (“Touch my toes? Please, I am happy that I can touch me knees”), rest and recovery, goals, and the “dreadmill”.

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Garen graduated from Davidson College in 2006 with a B.A. in Fine Art. At Davidson, he founded and played for the lacrosse team (2002-’06), captaining the squad all four years. He was selected as a two-time first-team all-conference player, first-team all-tournament player, and received All-American honors his junior season while leading the team to the national championship tournament.

In October 2009, Garen lost his mother, Leslie Riedel, to the neurodegenerative disease ALS. In the following months he began to investigate ideas for raising funds to research for a cure to this currently untreatable, terrible disease. It was through this search that he learned of Jon Blais and the tremendous efforts of the Blazeman foundation. Blais was a Massachusetts native triathlete who, in 2005, completed the Hawaii Ironman after being diagnosed with ALS. He completed the race without the ability to use his left hand and passed away just 1.5 years later.

Prior to hearing this story, Garen had never competed in a running event, let alone a triathlon, but knew that he could give no possible excuse as to why he could not complete this race. So he signed up for IM Cozumel 2010 within an hour to fundraise for a cure. All in.

Over the past three years, Garen’s triathlon career has gone from humble beginnings to the lava fields of Kona. He has grown to love the immense challenges of triathlon and been humbled by the gracious outpouring of financial support towards his philanthropic endeavors — $50,000 fundraised so far.

Garen currently works in the fine arts for LaPlaca Cohen, a cultural consulting and advertising firm based in New York City. You can often find him at Finish Line PT or training along the West Side Highway. If you see him, he says stop him to say hello.

The Skinny
Born: March 4
Resides: New York, NY
Height: 6 ft 3 in
Weight: 178 lbs

Competition Results

    2012

  • IM Kona – 10h 5m – (bike mechanical)
  • IM NYC – 9h 26m – 28th overall, 5th overall amateur, 2nd age group, and 1st NYer finisher
  • Block Island Triathlon – 1st overall
  • IM 70.3 Rhode Island – 4th age group
  • Stamford Kic It Triathlon – 2nd overall
  • Rev3 Quassy Half Triathlon – 1st age group
    2011

  • NYC Triathlon – 7th age group
  • Block Island Triathlon – 4th overall
  • Stamford Kic It Triathlon – 1st age group
    2010

  • Ironman Cozumel – 10h 47m
  • Mightyman Half Triathlon – 3rd age group
  • Block Island Triathlon – 3rd overall
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