Background

Triathlon…that wasn’t a word in vocabulary until I was 31 years old. I came from Northern Ontario Canada where we played hockey, lacrosse and High School football. It was a Pulp and Paper Mill town. Would you believe, this mill, supplied the paper for the New York Times…..Lol….

As a kid, I always was active, either cycling or jogging around our small town. As for swimming, it was just for recreation.

Fast forward to 1985, I got a job in Kingston, Ontario, close to the border of Watertown, NY and Syracuse, NY. I always stayed active. As a Correctional Officer, I wanted to stay in fairly good shape. It wasn’t until the summer of 1990 – I was in the city and there was a race going on. I was living there for 5 years and never heard of this race. It was the Kingston Triathlon. I had to ask, “ What’s a triathlon?” I told my friend about it and we said, we can swim, bike and run, but, not sure one after another. We each did our own training. In the fall of 1990, I was watching “ Wide World of Sports “ on ABC station and I said, “someday, I would love to do that.” I found out later that you had to qualify. There was no way that I would ever qualify.

How did you get started?

The following year, I did my first long-distance triathlon. At 31, I did a 2 kms ( 1.2 miles ) swim, bike 56 kms ( 33 miles ) and 15 kms ( 9 miles ) run. It was exciting and fun. Not for my wife, though. She was worried about the swim. Most of the participants had come and gone on their bikes when I finally arrived waving at everyone and having fun. The rest of that day was better.

I got hooked. The following year, I signed up for more races and I stayed in pretty good shape. Then, in 1993, only two years into the sport, I decided to sign up for the Montreal Esprit. It was an Iron Distance race. It was the toughest sport I’d ever done in my life. It didn’t compare to the competitive hockey and lacrosse I played in my youth. Over the years, I continued doing triathlons until I met my older friend – he was old enough to be my father. I signed up for Ironman Canada in Penticton, BC, in 1999. I had such an awesome day that, next morning, we lined up to register, for 2000. That’s when I got hooked on Ironman. Every year, I would sign up for a couple of them. Since 2001, I’ve been participating at Ironman Florida. Also, in 2001 , I participated at Ironman Lake Placid and did that one for 15 years.

In addition to those two, I did some races in Europe. They included Ironman Frankfurt, Ironman Austria x2, because the first time I wasn’t able to complete it, Ironman Sweden and Ironman Hamburg. I need to go back and finish what I started in Hamburg. Ironman brought me to Germany because I was also able to make a holiday out of these with my wife. All of her relatives are in Germany. She’s from German descent, as her father was a survivor of the famous German battleship, the Bismarck….that’s another story…..

Going back to Ironman Florida, since I’ve been going there for many years, I have made friends with athletes from all over. Swedish, Slovenians, Danish, Germans……and USA, also.

What do you enjoy about the sport?

This is why I enjoy this sport, meeting other athletes, going to their country and doing their Ironman. This brings me back to when I first saw the Ironman on TV. Back then, you had to qualify. In 2012, Ironman developed this program called the Legacy to give the athletes who have completed 12 or more Ironmans, the chance to participate in the World Championship, in Kona, Hawaii. When I heard about this program, I had already done 24 or so Ironman so I qualified for it. All I had to do was register and wait to see if I was chosen. In April 2012, they published the finalists and my name was on it. It was a dream that came true from 1991. Like they say, “Anything is Possible,” I guess they are right. That event, I will never forget it. I was just like a kid in a candy store the whole time I was there.

You’ve accomplished so much! Do you have anything else you’d like to do?

Even though I accomplished my goal, I continue to push to the limit. Even though I am now 60 and have two bad knees. Life throws curve balls at you, but, you still go up to bat. I have met so many nice people along this journey that I don’t want to end yet. I figure, I still have lots of miles left to keep me motivated. I now have 40 completed out of 44 and I always said that I would love to finish 50 of them. Since I’m retired, I have a bit more time to exercise because I don’t call it training. I never followed any training formats and never had a coach to tell me what to do. I have a wife though, that asks me every day “ What kind of training are you doing tomorrow?“ That’s either helpful or she just wants to get rid of me…..lol…