Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Southerland is TOC Lanterne Rouge for early stages
After a prologue and two demanding stages of the Amgen Tour of California, Phil Southerland, founder of Team Type 1, is in 128th place and holds the Lanterne Rouge slot. Eight riders have already abandoned the Tour. He is a previous Lanterne Rouge finisher from last year's Tour de Taiwan.
Phil and teammate Fabio Calabria are the only riders with Type 1 diabetes in the race. They have had their share of adversity the past two days - having to fight through the wind, cold and rain as every rider had to do, while they have the additional routine demand of simultaneously managing their blood glucose levels. It is thanks to their insulin sponsors like Lantus and Apidra and their diabetes management products like the FreeStyle Navigator and the OmniPod and Dex4 that helps them stay in contention.
Best wishes to Phil and his teammates for a successful completion of the Tour!
Best wishes to Phil and his teammates for a successful completion of the Tour!
Update 1: Phil Southerland has retained his Lanterne Rouge position after Stage 3, with numerous departures from the race on a grueling day. 119 riders are still in the race, while 17 other prologue finishers are gone.
Update 2: Southerland was forced to retire from the race during Stage 4. 108 riders remain, and Francesco Chicchi of Liquigas is the new TOC Lanterne Rouge.
Update 3: Francesco Chicchi of Liquigas continues as the TOC Lanterne Rouge, which provides him with the noon starting slot of 108 rides in the Stage 6 time trial in Solvang. The top ten riders go off at 1:41 pm local time at 2 minute intervals.
Labels: Calabria, Chicchi, Southerland
Monday, March 17, 2008
Lanterne Rouge in Taiwan
Congratulations to Phil Southerland who finished the Tour of Taiwan in the Lanterne Rouge position while supporting a fifth-place team finish for the first-year pro cycling team, Team Type 1.Southerland is one of four riders on the team who face the grueling challenges of bike racing at the professional level while simultaneously managing his blood sugar levels for Type 1 diabetes. (There is an additional development squad of nine riders, all with diabetes).
Southerland was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was seven months old. With the guidance of his mother and his own competitive attitude, he maintains that he is not living an adjusted life, but rather a normal life with small adjustments. Phil says: "I have never said 'no' to anything because of diabetes, I just made the adjustments so I could say 'yes'."
Southerland was one of the founding members of Team Type 1, created in 2004 to inspire people living with diabetes to take a proactive approach to managing their health and overcoming the obstacles often associated with the condition. In just its second showing in the annual Race Across America (RAAM) last year, the team took home the victory – beating every other team by more than three hours.
Southerland maintains a blog where he talks about his approach to combining high-level cycling performance and management of diabetes. He hopes to continue the successes of the team and take it to a Tour de France entry one day.
Photos courtesy of Marco Quezada.
Labels: Southerland
