At 0600 on Sunday 3rd December 2006 I found myself bobbing around with 800+ others in the sea just off the coast of Busselton preparing for a very long day ahead for the 2006 Ironman WA. For the uninitiated, an Ironman is a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km bike ride followed by a marathon – all 42.2kms of it – and Cam, Ironbee Mike and Jerome from the squad had it all to face over the coming hours.

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I let my mind wander back in time to 7.30pm on July 21st 2002 where I was lying in a complete heap in agonising mental and physical pain after having finished my first Ironman competition in 12hrs 16mins and I swore I would never do another. When I met my wife immediately after the race I made her promise that no matter what I said and how much I pleaded, she was never to let me undertake another as I hated pretty much the whole experience and it took me nearly 3 months to recover from the damage I did myself in completing it…….and yet here I was, 4 years later (and 4 years older of course!) about to do the whole thing over again. Was I completely insane??

I assured myself that this time it would be different. I had had the benefit of having a fairly decent and consistent training build up over the last 10 months and had the great pleasure of training with an awesome bunch of folks from the shop squad. The Tuesday and Saturday shop rides were spot on for the basic aerobic building but when the time came to move it up a notch or three on the Wednesday and Sunday rides, I was thankful that the likes of Cam, Travis, Jim, Larry, Ray, Russell, Adam etc were there to ride with me and beast me when I needed it. It was very nearly time to show them my eternal thanks but first I had the swim to contend with.

Now those that know me are aware I am pretty capable in the water – it used to me my thing and, like riding a bike, some things you never forget! I had swam reasonably well in the build up so was confident of a good result so when the cannon went off and the big ‘washing machine’ of 800 people all swimming together in a confined space occurred, I made sure I was in a comfortable position behind a ‘young gun’ who took the first 200m out pretty hard. I let him have his head before manoeuvring round him and found myself in the lead – and feeling comfortable. I swam the 1.9kms straight out to sea (eerie enough as it is quite a way out from the safety of the shoreline!) and turned to see I had somewhat of a lead. I swam round the jetty and headed for home and was very happy with the knowledge that I was going to be the first Age Grouper out of the water (the Professional athletes had a 15min head start on us all) so was riding on a bit of adrenalin as I came out of the water with a lead measured in several minutes. However, even I was surprised as the commentator boomed over the tannoy that not only was I the fastest Age Group swimmer but I had also beaten all the Professional athletes as well! The crowd erupted and it took me back to my swimming days all over again some 20 years ago as I realised that, at 38 years of age, I could still hold my own in the water. Anyway, 48mins 45seconds of swimming and I was into the transition tent to start the bike…

I took my time in transition remembering the horrors of my last race so made sure I was dressed properly for the occasion – in full totally spoked livery of course – and filled every pocket with gels, energy bars and marmite sandwiches and made my way onto the bike leg.

I had plans for a 6hr bike split (3 x laps of 60kms at an average speed of 30kph) if it all went well so was pleased with my initial progress as the average was over 33kph and I actually led the entire race for about 1hr 17mins before the first person came whizzing past me. Unfortunately for me, he was the first of many, many cyclists who would come past me and during the bike leg, I never overtook a single soul which could be quite demoralising but it’s something I’ve grown accustomed too with my swimming being disproportionately strong! The first lap came and went and I was about 15mins up on my target so was a very happy boy and then it started to go wrong from here really. Being a very flat course you might think would be good for someone like me who hates hills but being stuck in the aero position for hours on end does the back and neck no good at all and, with my back still showing the scars of an operation some years ago, it wasn’t long before the real pain started. My average speed crept down on this second lap as I grew increasingly uncomfortable and the pain became almost intolerable in my back and neck so I stopped for a toilet break and a well-deserved stretch before continuing. I have to say it was at this point my mind really remembered exactly why I swore off doing an Ironman ever again as the memories all came flooding back to me and I started to not enjoy the race anymore.

I made the second lap spot on my target time of 2hrs even with the break so I was still under my target pace so that was a positive but, I’m ashamed to say, I was growing increasingly weak mentally as the day wore on and the winds started to get up on the flat course. Jerome was absolutely flying on the course and had overtaken me by this stage and I could see Cameron wasn’t really making any headway into me – it wasn’t until later on I realised he’d had 2 punctures or else he would have really put some time into me. Anyway, the heat was creeping up too so with the winds, the heat and pain, the day was not looking good at all – and there was still the small matter of a marathon to run!! The last lap was pretty much hell for the whole of the 60kms and I barely made it inside my target time but I rode 5.44 (5.50 including transition) so was pretty happy but now we had the run…..

By this time, we had been going just under 7 hours and post-midday sun was doing it’s best to make even harder work of what lie ahead. I’m told it reached 35 degrees during the run and I could quite believe it as I tried desperately to get into the transition tent and make my back see some sense in that I couldn’t run a marathon bent double! A few minutes of more stretching later and I was on my way. I knew Jerome was in front of me by over 15mins so I had some work to do to catch him but, surprisingly, on the first of the 3 x 14km laps, I got into a nice rhythm and felt reasonably good. I came through the first 14kms in under 1hr 10mins which was 10mins in advance of my target time but had I gone too fast too soon?

About half way through the second lap, I closed in on Jerome and overtook him and about 5mins after that, it was just like someone removed my batteries and I started to shut down rather rapidly! I struggled to understand why as my feeding and watering had gone to a carefully prepared plan and nothing was amiss there so I am putting it down to just a lack of long runs in the build up as I was now in some rather serious trouble!! At every turn around point I was hoping Jerome would have backed off just so as I could walk but he was very strong and never gave up and was always there, threatening to re-take me. Cam meanwhile was continuing his endeavours and was making good, steady progress throughout and we occasionally caught glimpses of each other around the course.

At one point, I came across our very own Ironbee Mike Curtis and had to use him to get me through a really rough patch as I could not see a happy end to things at that particular point – thanks Mike! Getting one leg in front of the other was a struggle and it became a war of attrition with myself to just finish the damn race so I forgot all about split times and target times – the game had now changed to just finishing as the jog turned into a shuffle and I prayed for the end to come quickly.

Again my mind wandered back to Switzerland and the promises I had made and I was cursing myself for getting involved again and every kilometre seemed to take an age – an age of sharp, agonising pain in my calves, my hamstrings but mostly my quads with every step! At each turn around point, Jerome was still there so I struggled on not knowing if he was going to be able to produce a sprint finish and not knowing even if I was going to make the finish at all but, with 2kms to go and at the final turn point, I saw he had finally backed off and I was safe! Only 2kms sounds like nothing but it took an age but I was finally into the finishing chute. My plan was to pick up my daughter and carry her across the finish line with me but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold myself up let alone anyone else but with 50m to go, I saw my wife holding her out over the barriers so I grabbed Mya and just staggered across the line and into the arms of the willing helpers – who basically saved me from crashing to the ground in an undignified heap as I was well and truly spent. 11hrs and 13mins meant a big improvement of 1hr and 3mins over last time but it was so very painful for such a long time I can’t even begin to contemplate another. The bike and the run hurt for so long and are such a big part of the Ironman race that I now believe my Ironman days are well and truly OVER!!

Cam, Mike and Jerome will hopefully be supplying their own account of the race from their perspective but all I have to do is express a huge amount of thanks to everyone who helped me prepare for this race – without you folks, it simply would not have been possible.

Cheers

Gary