Table of Contents
Foreword / 11
1. E Komo Mai / 15
2. “You are an IRONMAN!” / 31
3. Healing / 43
4. Iron Miracles / 59
5. Year 1 / 79
6. As if IRONMAN wasn’t tough enough already… / 93
7. Clash of the Titans / 113
8. Doing It for a Living / 125
9. Better, Not Older / 139
10. Racing for a Reason / 147
11. The Club / 153
12. Coping / 161
13. Transformation / 169
14. Letter from a Schoolchild / 183
15. Legend of the Fall / 185
16. This One Time? At IRONMAN? / 193
17. The Best Call I Ever Made / 213
18. Why I Do It / 219
Acknowledgements / 226
An IRONMAN triathlon is generally considered to be the toughest and most popular one-day sporting event in the world. It’s a 140.6-mile triathlon consisting of three disciplines, done consecutively, with no breaks:
1. Swim: 2.4 miles (3.8 km) in open water
2. Bike: 112 miles (180.2 km)
3. Run: 26.2 miles (42.2 km), a standard marathon
IRONMAN 70.3 is also a triathlon, with each leg half the distance of a full-distance IRONMAN race.
What started out as a private challenge for 15 individuals in 1978 has since grown into the largest series of endurance racing events in the world. There are 41 full-distance events in 24 countries, and 116 half-distance races in 46 countries. Some 200,000 people enter an IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 race every year.
Both series have their own World Championship races. The IRONMAN contest, often referred to simply as “KONA,” takes place in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, every October. The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is held in a different country each year.
