On Sunday 1st March Dillan and a few hundred other loonies did the New Zealand Ironman at Taupo. For those of you who don't know what an Ironman is, that's a 3.8 Km open water swim, followed by a 180 Km cycle, with a Marathon (42.2 Km) run to top it off!
I have to take my fair share of the blame for that, as it was me that got him into triathlon in the first place. Dillan had read about the Ironman on a flight back from Australia and mentioned it to me when we saw a triathlon magazine in W H Smiths in Gerrards Cross one day. I knew that there were shorter races too, and as Dillan was into cycling at the time, I enjoyed running, and we went for a swim once a week together at the time I suggested we should give it a go.
That was back in 1993 and we both raced for a couple of years before deciding it was a bit too much like hard work. Dillan got back into triathlon a few years back doing some of the shorter races again and persuaded me to do another one in 2004, but had set his sights on the Ironman, so last year as well as training as a personal trainer, he also spent half his week swimming, biking or running in preparation for the big one.
Dillan's target was to complete the Iroman in under eleven hours- fairly ambitious for a first timer. He completed the swim in just over an hour, and the bike in five and three-quarters, then finished off the run in just over four hours. On top of that you have to add the transition time for the quick change required between each discipline.
As he was on the final leg of the run, Dillan had it in mind that if he hit his eleven hour target he'd have achieved his ambition and could hang up his running shoes. Well it didn't quite work out that way, as his final time was 11:03:50, so he's decided to do it all over again next year! Still, he's got to be pretty pleased with that time.
I'd always wanted to stay at least fit enough to do the short races, though that had fallen by the wayside over the last year or so. So it was good news that Dillan's exploits inspired me enough to buy a new wetsuit, I've started training and I've entered a couple of local races before the season ends in a month or so. The really scary thing is that I'm even thinking about the Ironman- not next year, that would be pushing it, but maybe the year after!
In the meantime... Gerard Bourdillon- you are an Ironman!
We watched the birds for a while, then headed a short way up the coast to a spot called Kaiaua, reputedly home to New Zealand's best fish and chip shop (or 'fush and chups' as they call it over here!). Sadly none of us fancied fish and chips, so we popped into the pub next door and got some lovely toasted cheese sandwiches and cold beers to take away, then plonked ourselves in the sun at the beach for lunch.