WHAT A DAY!!

Wow! What a day! What an adventure! I don’t even know where to begin telling you about working at the Ironman Triathlon!! I guess the best place to start is to give you some information about the Ironman. The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim in the ocean, a 112-mile bike ride along the Kona coast, and a 26.2-mile run (a marathon). The Ironman Triathlon held here in Kona is considered the world championship of Ironman competitions throughout the world. The athletes participating have to qualify to even be here. There are a few spots available for local athletes that don’t qualify at another triathlon around the world. In May, they have what they call a half-ironman, or “Tinman,” as I’ve heard it called. I’ve also heard that it is called “Honu,” which means turtle in Hawaiian. There is also a lottery system where, I think, names are drawn and people then have to prove that they deserve a spot on the field.

There are all sorts of athletes that participate…professionals that do triathlons for a living, and just “regular” people who like the idea of competition. There were people of all ages and athletic abilities in the race on Saturday. It was so amazing to see! Of course there were the professionals, who were chiseled and looked like they were out for a leisurely jog (well, OK, not all of them), and then there were the average Joes that weren’t in as great of shape. The oldest person in the race was a 66 year old man from Kona. He finished the race in 15 hours, 36 minutes and 21 seconds. It was his first time participating in an Ironman! Can you imagine??!! One day at the age of 66 deciding to participate in one of the world’s most difficult sporting events?? At age 66?! That just amazes me! There was a 62 year old man participating in his 11th Ironman! That’s unbelievable!! There were plenty of “older” women participating too. It was so inspiring to see all of these people with all different abilities running or walking past us. The youngest participant was an 18 year old man that finished in 14 hours, 6 minutes, and 51 seconds.

In the days before the race the local newspaper was printing articles about athletes to “watch.” One that I thought was very interesting was a 32 year old man that was hit by on car when he was riding his bike at age 12. He broke his clavicle (collar bone) and his right arm has been paralyzed ever since. He started running cross country when he was in junior high. He loved the sport and started running races and eventually started doing triathlons. He has worked with trainers to learn how to swim and bike with one arm. He straps the arm to his body when he runs and swims, and when he bikes he straps it to his bike. We saw him when he ran through our aide station. It was yet another amazing sight to see! He finished with a time of 13 hours, 7 minutes and 21 seconds…can you imagine?... doing ALL of that with ONE arm?!
We also saw a number of men in wheelchairs participating. They not only have no use of their legs, but they have to use their arms for the entire race! I’m told they don’t get an extra help for the swim, so I’m not sure how they do that. But then they have to do the 112-mile bike and the 26.4 mile run pushing the wheels on their wheelchairs! I also saw at least 2 men with a prosthesis for a leg. They ran like nothing was any different about them. That’s what I think is so cool about all of these athletes. They don’t let anything get in the way of their dreams. They don’t feel sorry for themselves and the situation they may be in. They just compete. And they do well. It’s so cool!

There were people participating from 49 different countries and 45 states. I saw a couple of people wearing Wisconsin shirts so we had to cheer them on nice and loud!! The top male finisher was from Australia. He finished the race in 8 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds. He was in 11th place at the start of the run and he managed to pass all of those people to come in first place! That is amazing to me…after swimming 2.4 miles and biking for 112 miles…to still have the energy left to pass people on the run. He got 2nd place last year. The top female finisher was from England. She also won last year. She finished in 9 hours, 6 minutes and 23 seconds, a little less than 11 minutes behind the women’s record for the race. She lost 10 minutes during the biking part because she got a flat tire and the air canisters that she had with her wouldn’t work. One of her teammates stopped and gave her the one she had. If she hadn’t had trouble with her tire, she could have possible broke the record! The overall record to break is 8 hours, 4 minutes and some seconds (I can’t remember.) I can’t imagine completing the race in a little over 8 hours!

The athletes have 17 hours to finish the race. If they don’t get to the transition sites by a certain time, they are disqualified. There were 1808 triathletes that began the race. 1636 people finished. One of the top professionals that was expected to do well (He got 1st last year) had to drop out during the bike part. He had a gear cable break on his bike and the technicians told him it would take 20 minutes to fix. That’s a lot of time to make up in a race like this.

One of the things that make this race so difficult, besides the obvious difficulty of the length and endurance needed to complete it, is the elements. The race is stated at 6:45am in order for the athletes to get some of the race done before it gets too hot. They have to be done by midnight or they are disqualified. The articles in the paper this year stated that the ocean was really choppy. I know how hard it is to try and swim in choppy waters! It’s not only exhausting, but for weak swimmers like me, it’s scary! The top professionals finished the swim in about 50-55 minutes. Most of the amateurs did it in 1-2 hours. I can’t imagine swimming in choppy ocean water for 2 hours! I’d probably drown! After they survived the swim, they had to get on their bikes and pedal up the Kona coast, 112 miles to a town called Hawi. The Kona coast is known for having BIG hills to climb and for being REALLY, REALLY windy!! I guess this year was exceptionally windy. The articles in the paper stated that people were getting blown over by the wind! Even the professionals said the wind made the bike more challenging. AND THEN, after enduring the bike, they have to run a marathon!!! I ran a half marathon in May, and I was so happy to be done! I can’t imagine running a full marathon AFTER doing the swim and bike! I know I’ve said it a hundred times, but these people are AMAZING! On top of all of this, the temperature reached as high as 108 degrees during the day. I think between the direct sun beating on them and the black top absorbing heat, the temperatures really go up fast!

Working at the aide station was so rewarding. It was so neat to see all of the athletes running past. A number of them, professionals and amateurs, were walking by this point, but they were not going to quit! There was all so appreciative of our help. We had water, Gatorade, cola or coke (depending on what country you are from :-) ), ice, oranges, bananas, power bars or gel and pretzels and crackers available for the athletes. They would come running by yelling what they wanted and grab it in mid-stride. Most of them even thanked us! I wouldn’t even be able to talk at this point much less thank someone for giving me a cup of water! Toward the end, some of the athletes were even throwing their own garbage away! They usually just throw it on the ground so they can keep running.

We had a few athletes that didn’t look so good when they stopped at our station. One guy had to sit down and he looked really bad. I thought he was going to pass out. One of the helpers at our station put ice on him and put cool, damp towels on him to cool him off while we were waiting for the medical crew to come. I was getting a little nervous because it was taking them forever to get there and this guy didn’t look so good. But when they did get there, he was able to walk to the van. I’m not sure what happened to him, but I presume they took him to the hospital for fluids. We also had a lady who walked through that didn’t look so good, but I couldn’t get her to stop. I don’t think she spoke English, so she may not have understood what I was saying. I hope she was OK. Early on in the race, one of the professionals came running through and must have been over-heating. He stuck his head right in one of the barrels of ice water we were using to cool the drinks! I got a few pictures of that. Hopefully I will be able to post them for you.

We were signed up to work a 4-hour shift, but ended up being there for about 8. We just really enjoyed what we were doing and Jenna was having a ball. She started handing out ice. She thought it was really cool when the athletes would take her ice. AJ got some good pictures of one of the top guys taking ice from Jenna. Later in the day, she was handing out sponges. The athletes use these to squeeze cold water on themselves to cool off. Those of you who know Jenna well know that she LOVES water and will take any opportunity she has to get wet! She was “holding” sponges in her t-shirt to hand out as people ran by, and of course she got soaked! One of the athletes running by was going to take a sponge from one of the volunteers, but he said “no I want to get it from her!” and he pointed to Jenna. She was thrilled! I wasn’t there to witness it, but she was pretty excited! I didn’t get any pictures of her handing our sponges because I was busy at my station, but I did get a few of her “after-the-fact.” I’ll try and post them too.

I’m sorry to be so long-winded today! I could go on a long time about this. It was such a great experience!! We will definitely be volunteering again next year! Tonight there is an appreciation dinner for all of the volunteers. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the people that we worked with. It’s called a “mahalo for your kokua” party, which means “thank-you for your help.” Kokua (pronounced like it looks, ko-ku-a) means help or service in Hawaiian. We got t-shirts that say “kokua crew” on them. Pretty cool. I’ll tell you all about the party tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be done reading this post by then! :-) Until next time…aloha!