Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Dynamic Duo in Belfast


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.