Mike Seguin (left) and Tony Rienks (center)
They are the
great pairs in history: Laurel and Hardy; peanut butter and jelly; Heckle and
Jeckle. Now we can add Mike Seguin and Tony Rienks to that list. The two
Chicago firefighters from the city’s southside participated in August’s World
Police and Fire Games in Belfast, Ireland. And the pair, who also race for the
Beverly Bike/Vee-Pak race team, showed how to race on the other side of the
pond.
The competition, which happens every
two years, is something the pair has been training for since the last games in
New York. With over forty-eight countries represented, there were a slew of
riders that wanted to cross the finish line first in the thirty minute
criterium. After four laps in, both Seguin and Rienks were in a breakaway of
just eight riders. After the field was whittled down to just six riders with
three laps to go, the pair turned on the pressure in the final lap around the
Stormont Parliament Buildings. Seguin took the gold, with Rienks scoring a
bronze. But one half of the dynamic duo was not yet finished.
In the thirty-six mile road race,
Seguin attacked a field of eighty-four riders at the top of the final climb, a
scant four miles from the finish. With two miles of that a downhill, Seguin was
ecstatic that he was able to hold the field at bay as he took his second gold
of the games.
“Thanks to a peloton that thought I
would not stay away and that downhill, I was able to make my team, my city, and
my country proud,” remarked an exhausted Seguin at the finish line.
You can catch the pair at Beverly
Bike/Vee-Pak’s annual cyclocross race at Dan Ryan Woods on October 13th.
