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Lance Armstrong does SwimRun with Simon Whitfield

The team of Armstrong and Whitfield finished third in the San Juan Islands SwimRun event

Lance Armstrong and Simon Whitfield compete together in San Juan Islands SwimRun event. Photo: @lancearmstrong

Lance Armstrong and Simon Whitfield teamed up at the San Juan Islands SwimRun event on Sunday, September 23rd, in Washington state. The team of Armstrong and Whitfield finished third out of 21 male teams in 6:09:20. They were 34 minutes behind the winners, John Stevens and Matt Hurley.

Armstrong and Whitfield’s team was named “Shower, Shampoo, Blow Dry and Run.” This was inspired by Armstrong and Whitfield’s 2012 Twitter war, where Armstrong referred to the Olympic triathlon as “a shampoo, blow dry, and 10k foot race.”

The SwimRun event featured nearly 30K of trail running and 4K of swimming, broken up over 25 sections – 13 runs and 12 swims. It was a team event where competitors may use floatation devices but must stay together the entire way.

Armstrong is banned for life from competitive cycling events for doping, but he only received a four-year ban for non-cycling events. During his four-year ban, Armstrong was prevented from running the Chicago Marathon in 2012 and participating in a master’s swim competition in 2013. USADA spokesman Ryan Madden told USA Today on August 24, 2016, (four years after Armstrong’s ban was announced), “He can compete in a sanctioned event at a national or regional level in a sport other than cycling that does not qualify him to compete in a national championship or international event.”

Don’t expect Armstrong to be racing much. In 2016, he told USA Today that “my days of competing are past me” and just exercises to stay healthy and sane.

Lance Armstrong and Simon Whitfield competing together. Photo: @lancearmstrong