LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk | People MAN of METTLE Story and Photos By Scott Mierop B y the time this Summer issue of LOCALadk hits the street, Ironman Lake Placid will be just weeks away. This Lake Placid race is known as the oldest Ironman event in the continental U.S. and features one of the most beautiful courses on the circuit. The two-loop swim course takes place in Mirror Lake, followed by a transition in the Olympic Speed-Skating Oval. The 112-mile bike ride leads athletes along state, county, and local roads, while passing breathtaking vistas of the Adirondack Mountains and the New York country-side. The spectator friendly marathon runs by downtown Lake Placid four times and features tree-lined river scenery. Everyone who lives here, understands the sheer magnitude of the event. It's BIG! The event is large, even in world terms, and it's growing. With nearly 3000 competitors this year, along with family, friends, and support crews, Ironman Lake Placid is the Adirondacks' largest one-day annual event. It's fun, exhilarating, and, for the most part, everyone young and old joins in the fun. While working at the computer (we're still not using the phone much around LOCALadk) I receive an email from Greg Moore. He introduces himself and lets me know a little about why he's writing. In just two short paragraphs, I'm hooked and arrange to meet Greg at his shop, Bear Essentials, in Saranac Lake, to hear more. We sit down in his office, and I find out he's a Saranac Lake husband, father, business owner, and disabled Iraq war veteran. He has a get-it-done attitude that has helped him overcome many obstacles since becoming a local resident in 1995. Now Greg is using his positive approach in life to help returning service men and women through an organization called Homeward Bound Adirondacks. With the help and support from his amazing wife Linda, he's leveraging the exposure of the Ironman race to do it. Greg and I look at the designs for his custom triathlon race gear: tri shorts, tri tops, and bike jerseys. They're covered with sponsorship logos from local business, big and small, all supporting HBA. He tells me he'll be training the next day, and we agree to meet in Lake Placid to take some photos. That very next morning, I meet Greg at 7:30am, after his 9 mile run. Hardly out of breath and looking very relaxed, on an Adirondack morning with steam rising off Mirror Lake, I take only one picture of Greg smiling. All of the others captured the look of a no-nonsense, sincerely determined, man on a mission. Greg is a happy guy and very outgoing, but you can tell he likes to get down to business and get things done, and it's refreshing. As we leave Mirror Lake and our photo session, Greg and I talk more about Homeward Bound Adirondacks, and I also find out that he proudly serves on its Board of Directors. Formed in early 2010 by an extensive group of Saranac Lake people involved in healthcare, education, research, veterans, arts and healing, and civic organizations, Homeward Bound Adirondacks forged an alliance to establish a comprehensive, holistic reintegration, retreat, respite, and support center for members of the Armed Forces, Veterans, and their families. This community-based, public and private partnership responds to the needs of military families and draws upon Saranac Lake's tradition as a healing community, first established in the 1880's by Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau for the treatment of tuberculosis. This unique model for helping service men and women re-integrate into the local community was developed by HBA and is anchored in Saranac Lake. However, it's quickly becoming a regional resource serving the entire Northeastern US. HBA is incorporating recent breakthroughs in neuroscience and other established approaches for successful transition from active duty to civilian life to improve its support services 36 LOCALadk Magazine Summer 2013

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