Hawaii Ironman

Ian Douglas Sweet made a film of my first Hawaii Ironman race; Hawaii five-5. It was shown on Eurosport.

Hawaii is the ultimate goal for Triathletes world wide because that is where it all began. Who is the fittest was the challenge between service men. How many big races have been taken on like that? Thousands I’m sure have agreed to enter a marathon that way and I know several who did exactly that. Stitching together three existing major events on Oahu in the Hawaii Islands was exactly how triathlon started. There was a rough water swim event, the round the island bike ride and the Honolulu Marathon to be precise. That was the plan; a few fit service people shooting theirs mouths off about how fit and strong they were. The first one to complete all three disciplines would be declared the Ironman.

As a matter of interest the Hawaii Ironman was the first triathlon that Steve and I ever heard about. It in an article read out from 220 Magazine in our kitchen by a young friend of ours, James, who could at that time thirty years ago, already swim-bike-and run, and had done well in his senior years at boarding school in swimming and running events plus the bike was his only form of transport.

This photo is me interviewing original Ironman racer John Collins for the Eurosport film Hawaii Five-5 that was such a thrill.

That is how all three of us drifted into the sport, first our young friend James Clarke, then Steve, and the next spring after only being back up, support team and photographer for both of them, for the late summer of 1989. I didn’t learn front crawl until they had both competed in several events. It took me from mid September to mid December to get my first sure and calm mile under my belt.

 From the start Hawaii was the goal. Hawaii was what it was all about, a pilgrimage from the start. The three of us started training first in the pool then increasing the bike ride distance and the run was slower to get going for Steve and I. James became an elite athlete quite quickly since he had not left school sports that far behind and with Steve’s coaching started placing in races. I began to do well in my age group since it was not known as an ageing ladies sport in those days. We all qualified for ITU World Championships in Muskoka, Canada together.

This is me here with 'The Man', Dave Scott;
a true God of the sport,
taken on the
media breakfast cruise in Kona.

 With the dedicated coaching of my husband, who doubled as training partner and we always entered the same races. It was in my second attempt at Ironman Lanzarote that I qualified for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. I dnf’d the first race there having dehydrated.

Reaching Hawaii, we both realised that this event was everything we had hoped and expected it to be. It doesn’t look hard when you see it on TV but with a no wet suit swim, the strong and changing wind and the humidity it most certainly is a very hard race. Ian Douglas Sweet made a film about my Hawaii adventure for Eurosport that he titled Hawaii Five-5. He is such a nice man and we are still friends on social media keeping in touch regularly.

There are Dolphins who join in with the swim section and I nearly had a heart attack when upon a sudden a dolphin swam directly underneath me just after the turn around point. These fantastic creatures have appeared at a handful of races that we have competed in. 

In Clearwater Florida Steve told me afterwards that a dolphin had swum behind me playfully on the way back from the turn around. In Baja, Mexico a group of dolphins and a huge sea lion had enjoyed the fun with the swimmers and appeared to watch us go out along the sea road as they played in the harbour.

At this time Steve and I are still keeping ourselves very fit and supple with a morning routine of alternate days of a predawn run and a turbo training session indoors. Plus we have been learning other things from You Tube, daily stretching classes and Tai Chi, then alternating Yoga and Pilates. 

The two photos below were taken professionally from the roof of the King Kam Hotel in Kona that overlooked the transition area on the pier.  The second shot is a close up taken from that where you can fairly clearly make out the beautiful blond hair of Sharon Shaw, and my pink cap at a later Hawaii race, where both our men were racing on that occasion and we were just spectators. It is definitely almost as bad worrying about your family when they are racing and you are having heart attacks waiting for them to return to transition after 112 miles in the solid sun our on their bikes.

 

Steve and I here ready for the traditional Hawaiian Luau that is not to be missed.

In addition to all our other training, Steve has also been doing a short rowing set to finish, and I have been looking for a dance related class to end the morning with, so it is not at all surprising that I have found a Hawaiian Hula class to start. So far I have only tried the very basic movements but in our stock of CD’s we have several by the best known of Hawaiian singers, Isreal Kamakawiwo ' ole or IZ; the name most people may know him by. So sweet and gentle a singer, especially for somebody who was a very big man. So I have music to practice my Hula and take my mind off being stuck indoors as we are, unable to see a movie in the cinema or go out to dinner with our wonderful family and friends who I miss so much.