Endurance athletes pass Hawaii iron test

Five Bunbury triathletes have conquered one of the endurance sport’s showcase events, competing alongside some of the toughest athletes on the planet at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii at the start of the month.

Kira Flanagan, Ben Larsson, Jayson Gerde, Jamie Rankin and Craig Kimpton took their places alongside a 2000-strong field, with all competitors required to qualify for the World Championships by finishing in the top three at other Ironman events.

With the prospect of a gruelling 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run awaiting in October, the five South West hopefuls, who all work full time, were forced to train for the race throughout winter.

“We were up at 5am riding in the dark and the rain which is totally against the conditions we actually raced in,” Gerde said.

“Coming out of the cold and straight into the hot weather over there was different because normally you can sleep in and have a rest over that winter period but because of the timing of the race we were forced to train.”

Met on the day by temperatures nudging 38C and wind gusts of up to 100km/h, the World Championships lived up to its reputation as the toughest Ironman on Earth.

“Even though we didn’t acclimatise for it we were prepared for the heat but the wind — it was 140km into a headwind with no respite, ” Rankin said.

“It was dangerous because you had to drink to stay hydrated but if you took a hand off the handlebars you risked getting blown off the road.”

Despite the conditions, which resulted in a half-hour increase to the average race time, all five Bunbury competitors pushed through to finish.

“In a sense having a tough year makes it even more worthwhile, you’d hate to come back and say you got the easiest conditions ever, ” Kimpton said.

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