Ironman Japan 2002

The decision to race Ironman Japan was made simple as it was perfectly timed and located as a stopover on my way to Switzerland to race with the Basel based Wildcats triathlon team. Paul Mackay and Jarrod Brauer were also racing for the team and played a major role in my recruitment. Our own Ciaran O’Kane raced for the team the previous year, but injury meant he could not return in 2002 and I was more than happy to fill the void.

I was based in Brisbane at the time and the journey to Goto Island, where the race was held, involved flying to Singapore, Fukuoka and then over to the Island itself. I had a long layover in Fukuoka before my flight across to the Island so I took the subway from the airport into Fukuoka City to have a bit of a look around. While I had every intention of experiencing some true Japanese culture, it all seemed a bit too hard at the time, especially the language barrier. It was not long before I noticed a popular western coffee establishment, and that is where I set up camp. I found that the Japanese café culture was not a lot different to our own. No big surprise there mind you.

I managed to relocate the subway and made it back to the airport for the thirty minute flight across to Fukue City, the major population centre on the Island. After checking into my hotel, I set about attending to the usual chores of bike reassembly and race registration.

Later in the afternoon I went for a training ride and just about got lost. I don’t know about everyone else, but when I arrive at an unfamiliar location, it takes me some time to establish my bearings. Instead of doing the sensible thing and taking a map with me or following a simple out and back route, I followed a more complicated course. It was not quite panic stations, but it did take me a little longer than I expected to find a familiar landmark and make my way home. My subsequent training excursions were somewhat simplified.

The issue of food turned out to be a bit of a concern. What was I going to eat? This is often a problem in an unfamiliar foreign environment and was magnified on the Island as there was no real tourist precinct to fall back on. Much to my relief, I had the carbo dinner on the first night of my stay, but the night before the race was going to present a problem.

On race eve, I walked around town for a while looking for a suitable establishment but it was difficult to locate a restaurant at all, let alone one that had staff I could communicate with and get an appropriate meal. I lacked confidence as well, which certainly didn’t help matters.

The fall back was the 7-eleven convenience store in town. I ended up dining on an assortment of bakery items and chocolate milk the night before the race and had bread and jam in the morning. I have found that as long as you consume enough carbohydrate pre-race, no matter what the form, you are likely to be ok.

The race start was held about 20 kilometres from Fukue City and buses were chartered to take all athletes to the venue. We were greeted with a two foot chop when we arrived at the start venue, courtesy of a brisk northerly. It was bad enough for the organisers to present the option of swimming one lap of the two lap swim only, before continuing on with the race for an unofficial finish. I debated long and hard, but decided to go for it and tackle the swim in its entirety!

Fellow race participants included “Stormin” Norman Stadler, Petr Vabrousek, fellow Aussie, Grant Webster, and the usual role call of Japanese, led by Yoshinori Tamura.

The women’s field was graced by the queen of Kona, Paula Newby-Fraser and Wendy “Wingnut” Ingraham.

I actually felt pretty good in the water despite (or because of) not swimming for a week prior to the race. I led the race for all the first lap before allowing Wendy to take over a quarter of the way through the second. I exited the water just behind Wendy and a Canadian by the name of Mike Neil. The swim ended up being quite slow because of the choppy conditions, but never really presented a problem.

I ended up passing both Mike and Wendy in transition and started the ride with the race lead. Yippee!

It took only 10 kilometres before I surrendered the lead to Norman. He passed me at a great rate of knots and I decided it was a prudent decision to let him go.

The bike course allowed viewing of fellow competitors twice only for the entire 180 kilometres, with one turnaround point at the 30 kilometre mark and a second at the 70 kilometre mark. The course had two significant climbs, one at the 60 kilometre point of about two kilometres and a second of three kilometres, which had to be tackled three times at 80, 120 and 160 kilometres into the cycle leg. The second climb was particularly challenging due to a brisk headwind. The rest of the course was undulating and, at times, wind blown. It is, without a doubt, the hardest course I have had the pleasure of racing over in all the events I have competed in.

At the first turnaround point, Norman had around two minutes lead on me and I had about the same buffer on the next closest competitor, Mike at that stage. At the second turnaround point, Norman’s lead had grown to around four minutes and I had somewhere in the vicinity of a 3 minute lead to Mike, and four to Petr and Yoshinori. From this point on, I had no idea of the relative positions of my rivals, except to say that Norman increased his lead somewhat and I was pulling further away from those behind.

Just over the crest of the three kilometre climb for the second time, disaster struck. I hit a rock and it penetrated the sidewall of my tyre, resulting in a puncture. This was the first time I had experienced a puncture while racing an Ironman, and, luckily, it has not happened since.

You have to be very careful to keep your cool while changing a flat and get back into your rhythm as soon as possible after the repair. Although the repair took a little longer than I would have liked, no one passed me, and I got my head together not too far down the road. I was proud of myself for that.

At the end of the ride I wasn’t in great shape and was definitely not looking forward to the marathon (Does anyone ever look forward to the marathon? I think not.) My deficit to Norman was six minutes and my lead over those chasing had been reduced from something significant to not much at all. Grant was only 1.45 behind, Yoshinori 2.50 and two of Yoshinori’s Japanese rivals right there with him. Petr was over 7 minutes behind at this stage, but this does not represent a significant margin when a marathon has to be run.

The start of the marathon was particularly uncomfortable. However, after five or so kilometres I found some sort of rhythm and began to feel quite strong. It never ceases to amaze me how the human body can get off the bike so fatigued and still manage to run competently.

Early in the run there were a couple of turnaround points with which to sight your rivals, however the rest of the run consisted of two large lonely loops. Initially, Grant was breathing down my neck, but I put in a surge for a few kilometres and managed to open up some breathing space. The Japanese boys were looking threatening as well.

I continued to run quite well but, despite this, Yoshinori cruised by at the 28 kilometre point. When I took a peak behind I noticed that Grant was right there as well. Although it was going to hurt me, I dug deep at this point and tried to stay with Yoshinori for as long as possible. It seemed to work, as I opened up the gap to Grant again and passed Norman to take second place with about 10 kilometres to run.

I did not give much thought to Grant for the rest of the run but took a look behind with around two kilometres to run. He was within sight and it was panic stations for a while. I upped the anti in the final two kilometres and crossed the line in second. I was ecstatic at the finish, as I really needed the money.

My finances at the time meant that an extra night’s hotel accommodation was not in the budget, so I left on the Monday morning after the race, reneging on the presentations. That was a shame, but it was the way it was unfortunately.

All in all, a great experience. I enjoyed the race, the quirkiness of the Japanese and met some great people. Highly recommended.