Topic: News: Ingrid Marcum adds bobsled to list of Olympic dreams

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Well-seasoned Weightlifter adds bobsledding to her list of Olympic dreams
By Mike Cameron

If anyone can achieve the lofty goal of making the Olympics in two different sports, it's high-striving Ingrid Marcum.

Just ask anyone who knows this charismatic, chiseled 30-year-old, who squats 300 pounds, lifts 200 in the clean-and-jerk and rates among our country's female elite in both weightlifting and bobsledding.

Marcum, a fitness trainer at Health Quest Fitness in Palatine, ranked 14th in the 2004 Olympic weightlifting trials despite missing six months of training with significant back injuries.

She will need to become one of the two best in the country in order to compete at the 2006 Summer Games in Beijing. Marcum, now healthy, has added about 12 pounds of solid muscle in the past year to her ripped 5-foot-6, 165-pound physique.

In qualifying events for bobsledding, the Elmhurst resident actually tied two of the three brakemen who made the final USA team now competing at Torino. Two drivers make the team and pretty much dictate their subjective preferences for brakemen to the selection committee to break any scoring deadlocks.

Unembittered but pragmatic, Marcum will switch positions as she trains for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

"I'm going to become a driver. I'll have more control in the selection process but also in the sled. As a brakeman, once you push the sled and get into it, your job is pretty much done," she said.

Marcum recently won a grant from the U. S. Olympics Committee.

"That was great news. It's very hard for athletes to train and take so many trips and cover all the expenses. I'll use the money to learn how to become a driver, which takes years of experience. You have to become well-versed on a variety of tracks, which requires a lot of trips," she said.

Marcum and Health Quest enjoy a win-win situation. She is an inspiration to both clients and fellow trainers but also fully appreciates that her employer gives her the flexibility to pursue her competitive dreams.

From the end of July to early January, Marcum trained and competed at Lake Placid, N.Y., Calgary twice, Torino, Munich and Innsbruck. But she's never far from the hearts of her friends at Health Quest.

"Ingrid is the most strong-willed, determined person I've ever known. She is truly a role model to everyone here," said trainer Lee Ellen Eppley.

"She makes sure you're doing all the right things, but it's more than just exercise with her; she mentally and spiritually uplifts you," Eppley added.

"I've never once seen Ingrid down or depressed. If there is something negative, she turns it into a positive, always finding a solution," said operations manager Hazel Hamilton. "She is very sweet and kind-hearted."

Marcum, whose four siblings are also goal-driven, was born small, but her mother Nan quickly noticed a more physically advanced child. At just 18 months old, she was too advanced for tots her age in park-district gym and swim classes.

"From the very beginning, she wanted to do things early," said Nan.

Marcum graduated a semester early, in 1993, from York High School as a National Honor Society member and standout gymnast. She won a gymnastic scholarship to William and Mary College and earned a degree in business administration. Marcum continued to excel in gymnastics but suffered numerous injuries.

After college, Marcum stayed close to the sports world by working as a media-relations intern for the Washington Redskins and a production assistant for NBC, covering many Bulls' games toward the end of the Michael Jordan era.

Ingrid returned to William and Mary as a strength coach and got serious about Olympic-style weightlifting. A quick study, she placed fourth at the American Open in 2000, second at the World Team Trials in 2001 and won the 2003 Illinois State Championship in the 69-kilogram weight class.

In between, Marcum was lifting at a convention in 2002 when she caught the eye of two bobsled coaches, who invited her to try out for the sport. At Lake Placid in '03, she was tested in five events involving running, throwing and jumping and posted the highest-ever overall score.

Despite missing half of 2004 from compressed disks in her back, Ingrid made the USA's World Cup team as one of six brakemen, along with three drivers. She was less than a hundredth of a second slower than Vonetta Flowers, the world's top brakeman and '02 gold medalist, at the National Push Championships.

Marcum loves the exhilaration of bobsledding, with speeds approaching 80 mph down a winding one-mile track.

"Take the roughest roller coaster you've ever been on, and multiply it by about 10," said Marcum, who's nearing the peak age for weightlifters, while top sledders go well into their late 30s and beyond.

Now at full health, with ever-increasing strength and a little more financial help, Marcum has all the ingredients for success to go along with her own fierce drive and the support of all those around her.

[Terry Aasland]

Check out her weightlifting page :

http://ingridmarcum.typepad.com/weightlifting/