SPORTS 'N SPOKES

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Iron-Tough

Famous for its grueling length and harsh race conditions, the original Ironman triathlon in Hawaii tests even the best of the best.

It’s dusk on Alii Drive in Kailua, Kona, Hawaii, the end of the road in the 31st Ford Ironman World Championship. Sweat and excitement soak the tropical night air. Flashing safety lights announce the ap­proach of the first handcyclist to hit the finish line.

Monique van der Vorst streaks by in a blur of red and white with the whirr of spokes singing in the air. The fair-haired sports-medicine student from the Netherlands eats up the asphalt on her custom Invacare Top End Force R. The top female handcycler in the world has finished in 11 hours, 10 minutes, 14 seconds. Within the hour, seven other athletes with disabilities cross the finish line within their 12-hour goal.

The able-bodied athletes finish earlier within their eight-hour target. Many of them line the jammed sidewalks to encourage the disabled athletes, who are  on lightweight carbon prostheses, in custom-designed wheelchairs, or using tandem assistance. At the flower-festooned finish line, the racers are honored Hawaiian-style, with flower leis and ribboned medals. The announcer booms, “You…are...an...Ironman!”

Celebration Time

Twenty-four hours after volunteers put the littered village streets back in order, 1,700 athletes and their more than 3,000 supporters sat down to an awards banquet, sponsored by Powerbar, in the open-air King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel parking lot.

Ironman President and CEO Ben Fertic gave tribute to the athletes for their focus and passion. “It’s not about the (race) time but about living life to the fullest,” he said.

For more than three hours, top finishers in 28 categories went to the raised stage in small groups to receive a Hawaiian award of accomplishment, an engraved wooden bowl (umeke). One group brought the large audience to their feet with cheers and applause: handcycle finishers David Bailey, Michal Siska, Jason Fowler, and van der Vorst, along with the  remaining physically challenged finishers—Jason Lester, Gerald Geier, and Brian Cowie.

All Ironman athletes compete for goal satisfaction and time records. Many are professionals, students, or working folks. They take on the 140.6 miles of the West Hawaii lava fields with its 45-mph ka’ahumanu crosswinds and 110° heat blasts.

The Challenged Athletes Division has been a part of Ironman events since 1982. The group is divided into two categories—HC (handcycle) participants use handcycles for the bike segment and racing wheelchairs for the run; people with amputations or vision/hearing impairments and individuals with limited limb use are in the PC (physically challenged) category.

“The Ford Ironman World Championship is a recognized leader in the integration of people with disabilities within our sport,” says Event Director Diana Bertsch.    

The Hawaii Ironman competition, which took place in October 2009, featured 13 HC and PC qualifiers from 7 countries: 11 started, and 7 finished. Most shun sentimental but well-meaning labels of “courageous, inspirational, or overcomers,” preferring Fertic’s outlook of “living life to the fullest.”

After Germany’s Geier’s 1985 motorbike accident at age 24, a friend reminded him, “You did not lose your head, only your leg.”

“The quality of my life improved,” says Geier. “It is now more dear.”

Like many others with below-the-knee amputations, Geier has three orthotics. For the bike course he uses a light carbon prosthesis but runs on a carbon flex blade first introduced by South African Oscar Pistorius in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. For daily walking Geier sports a third prosthesis with a pink plastic “Croc” shoe.

Geier and Daggi, his wife/fellow triathlete, live in Bavaria on a street with 28 letters. His degree in business economics led him to a job in information technology with Martin Bauer, one of his major sponsors. Athletes who travel internationally usually have more than one corporate sponsor. Although they receive public recognition and the satisfaction of participating, Ironman’s athletes with disabilities do not yet receive part of the purse.

Geier says he most admires 2007 finisher and double amputee Scott Rigsby. What was Rigsby’s motivation to finish? “To enjoy the last mile on Alii Drive and have a hamburger and french fries after the race,” says Geier.

One finisher confessed to looking forward to the reward of a beer and a hamburger smothered with blue cheese.

Geier was the only PC athlete to finish the 2009 course.


Check out the complete article in the March 2010 S’NS.

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