Sponsored Riders

Report from Ian Clark on the Hawaiian IronMan

After arriving at check in I along with several other randomly selected fellow athletes were given the honour of the individual attention of Her Majesty's Customs Officials who kindly inspected all our bags, bike cases and wheel bags so once again it was out with more locks to secure the bags and more duck tape to hold the Ramblers bike case together after which time we were kindly taken to the top of the check-in queue.

We arrived at Honolulu airport 10.30 p.m. September 30 it was warm but my first impression traveling by bus to our accommodation made me wonder about this place - not quite what I was expecting. However first impressions can be misleading and Waikiki is certainly an amazing place - the Cops even drive around in supercharged Mustangs and if you have enough green backs you can even hire a Hummer limo!!!!!!

The week prior to race day was spent familiarizing with the course. The swim course was quite shallow and rocky. We rode the bike course at an easy pace just getting a feel for it which at the time seemed to be quite cruisey not at all steep (this observation was to change come race day) it was an out and back course mostly done on their highway with two climbs and a real fast bike back to transition with a flat run course which suited me.

On Tuesday 4th the World Aquathon Champs were held which for me was a good opportunity to see what sort of competition I would be up against however there were only 2 competitors in my age group. It was great to see a few of the Kiwis take out their Age Groups and was awesome to see a Kiwi win it overall.

Thursday the 6th the Parade of Nations which for me was one of the biggest highlights for the sheer atmosphere. We performed the Haka and yes it went off all right (the practices paid off) however after performing three times that night our voices were a bit hoarse.

Race day arrived the day I had been waiting for for five months and I was hoping that all my hard training would pay off. It was an early start for us getting up at 4.00a.m. to be down at transition at 5,00a.m. My race was to start at 9.05a.m.

The first race started off at 6.15a.m, the AWADS it was so amazing to watch and support them they are incredible athletes.

As time ticked by the start of my race got closer and the more I had to keep myself calm. 9.00a.m. arrived and we entered the water by now it was really getting hot. They combined the Male 18-19yrs with the 20-24yrs. There was a lot of pushing and kicking each other around to get a good start position. We were away - the swim seemed to take forever mainly due 10 the conditions and the fight for survival - found it very hard to breathe not the swim I had expected. I exited the swim and into transition for the start of the bike course. I had ridden for about a kilometer then the start of the first hill- I thought it would have been easy but it killed us all and the next hill was going to be harder - that wasn't a good feeling at all. The best part was the ride back to transition with the tail wind. The average speed was around 36-37 going out and about 50 coming back those with carbon fibre discs just flew past.

By the time I got back to transition the heat was starting to take its toll on me and no doubt the others too. Around the 3km mark the beat really got to me but with the support from family and other Kiwis made me dig it in and carry on. I crossed the finish line and was taken to the Medics tent where I spend some time resting and rehydrating not a pleasant time. At this time I had no idea where I had finished I later went and looked a the results board and saw my name down as. 4th - was I over the moon - worth every minute of agony. Roll on next year.

I just want to make a special thanks to my Parents, my coach Ken MacLaren, my sponsors Pedal Power and Specialized Bikes, HB Multi Sports, my boss Jim Taylor and also all the support I had received before I left. If it wasn't for them my competing would not have been possible.