Gauthier Family Homecare Team OAM NOW / Athletic Mentors is proud to represent this Grand Rapids area home care service, offering compassionate and professional in-home service for their clients, for its fourth consecutive year. Gauthier Family Home Care utilizes both CareProfiler and IC24 (Ideal Caregiver 24) to match their caregivers with their clients. This process ensures the best caregiver match possible for the client in need of care and the client’s family. This extraordinary level of care and focus on the whole team mirrors Team OAM Now’s focus on its team of athletes. In fact, co-owner Dan Gauthier is such a strong believer in the team that he’s a member (Team OAM Now Elite Club). With a core team of professionals, Gauthier and his
By Kathy Braginton, Team OAM Now Triathlete Triathlon season officially began with the 35th annual Seahorse Challenge, the first triathlon in the Kalamazoo area. With the race held on Memorial Day weekend, and the cold winters we have experienced the last few years, racers never know what the weather is going to bring or what the water temps will be, thus creating the “challenge”. This year brought cool early morning air temps, a water temperature of 64 degrees, and no worries whether it would be a wet suit legal swim. Seahorse features both Sprint and Olympic distance races. Each race follows the same course with the Olympic distance doing 2 laps in each discipline. Team OAM Now’s Kathy Braginton took on the Sprint
By Peter Ehmann, Team OAM Now Cyclist “Fight, Survive, Finish.” Those three words summed up the goals, at least my goals, of the 2015 Cone-Azalia Dirt Road Race. Sometimes the course profile makes the race; sometimes that distinction goes to the field or team tactics; this race, the main player was the conditions. “Brutal, Horrendous, Miserable, Epic, Silly…” All words, many not worth repeating here, floated around describing what all the brave souls who toed the line experienced on this epic slug fest. This day, just finishing had to be earned. The conditions at the start were horrendous to say the least. Rainfalls overnight topped 2 inches on a 6.7 mile circuit that comprised 90% dirt roads. Dirt road is
By Kaitlyn Patterson, Team OAM Now Multi-Sport The elite men and women racers started together three minutes before the rest of the field. I was able to make a crucial break with part of the elite men’s field on the first climb and separate myself from the other female racers. I maintained this lead throughout the race and finished with a solo victory. I’ve been able to spend more time working on my bike handling skills this year and it has been fun to see it pay off in recent races.Four years since the inaugural event, this unique race on the coast of Lake Michigan has quickly become a staple in spring mountain bike racing. Arcadian Grit and Gravel is held
Waking up to a cool, crisp morning, racers made their way to the quaint little town of Frankfenmuth for what proved to be a day of battling the winds and chasing down breaks. With roads that cut through wide open fields, this race is one where winds play a huge role. Pair that with a long, downhill finish, and it is a race who’s winner is never a foregone conclusion. This year, the Men’s Pro 1/2 field of 45 was filled with many strong riders, including TEAM OAM NOW/Athletic Mentors Chris Gottwald, Cory Stange, and Daniel Yankus. Eighty miles of flat and windy proved to be so demanding that only 22 of the 45 who started the race, actually finished.
Do you see this awesome picture? It is a perfect picture of strong women sprinting to the finish after 60 miles of racing in Frankenmuth. You can see the pure grit on their faces. Standing up, giving their all. It is beautiful. My only issue with this picture is that it highlights all of the shoulds I’ve been carrying with me since that day. I should have tried different strategies to get away during those 60 miles. I should have used the wind to my advantage. I should have made someone else chase. I should have pulled less. I should have waited instead of charging the last corner and burning out early. I should have caught a strong wheel going
Athletic Mentors