By
Michael Weaver
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Wing
Commander Colin Clarke puts in the hard yards during the
bike and run legs of this year’s Australian Ironman
Triathlon at Forster where he qualified for the Hawaii Ironman
in October.
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WHAT
began as a means of maintaining fitness in his spare time will
turn into the mental and physical test of a lifetime when Wing
Commander Colin Clarke competes in the annual Ironman Triathlon
World Championship at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on October 18.
The 50-year-old Deputy Director Supply Chain Systems Management
at RAAF Base Williams, Laverton will live arguably his longest
day when he takes on a 3.86km swim, 180.2km bike ride and a 42.2km
run that could easily take into the night to complete.
The 25th running of the now legendary race Hawaii Ironman will
see WGCDR Clarke as the sole ADF representative after he qualified
fourth fastest in his age category of 130 entrants at the Australian
Ironman Triathlon Championship at Forster in April, his fourth
over the distance.
WGCDR Clarke finished 236th outright from more than 1500 entrants,
with his time of 10 hours and 15 minutes beating his personal
best by six minutes. The swim took just over one hour, followed
by 5:32:8 on the bike and a 3:42:24 run.
However, WGCDR Clarke says he is not going to Hawaii to better
his time, as finishing within the 17-hour cut-off will be priority
number one.
“The difference between Hawaii and Forster is at Forster
you go to run a qualifying time and with Hawaii you go to finish
and enjoy the experience,” WGCDR Clarke told Air Force News.
And he also hopes to relax and “smell the roses” while
he’s there.
“In the week leading up to the race, I’ll take a couple
of books, sit under a palm tree, kick the feet up and read,”
he said.
“I’ll do a couple of light training sessions to roll
the legs over and a couple of extra swims to get used to the conditions,
but you’ve got to try and balance between the hype of the
event and getting your own relaxation time.”
He said mental preparation was just as important as being fit
enough, and while he was as fit now as he had ever been, he also
believed he had the mental strength to take on the open water
swim, potential howling winds (where riders have been blown off
their bikes) and the run alongside volcanos.
“I know what’s there and have prepared the body as best
I can. I think the key to it is if you can get your head right
you’ll pull through – and race sensibly.”
WGCDR Clarke said his only setback had been a leg problem that
flared up during the Forster Ironman where he lost valuable training
time nursing the injury during the peak build-up period of May
and June.
Club mates from the Latrobe Valley Triathlon Club helped him through,
as have colleagues from work, while he says he is lucky in also
having a supportive family.
“The kids are at uni and my wife is begrudgingly supportive,
but I recognise it’s a very selfish sort of sport time-wise,”
he said.
“It’s basically train, work, eat and sleep.”
From Monday to Friday, WGCDR Clarke is up at 5am. He does two
swim sessions, two long runs and one run with a wind trainer.
Saturday is a swim and a long ride of between 130-150km, while
Sunday is another long ride and a run. He also fits in a run during
most lunch times and a bike ride with a wind resistance trainer
on Tuesday nights, rounded off with one or two gym sessions a
week.
He says he fits all this in with ruthless time management and
with the skills of a professional team that helped establish the
logistics information systems infrastructure for Operations Bastille
and Falconer back in January and February.
WGCDR Clarke will take recreation leave to do the race, while
the trip is mainly self-funded.
The Australian Services Triathlon Association has provided an
ADF race uniform, while his local swimming pool lets him in for
free. The officers’ mess also had a jar on the bar picking
up loose change as well.
After it’s all over, WGCDR Clarke still aims to compete in
the 2004 Australian Ironman Triathlon at Forster, which will be
his fifth and a milestone that organisers formally recognise.
“Then I want to have a 12-month sabbatical and take the family
somewhere else for a holiday and reassess whether the body’s
there to do it all again.”
Hawaii
Ironman – how it all started
DURING
the awards ceremony for a Hawaii running race, a debate ensued
among competitors about who is more fit – swimmers, runners
or other athletes. One of the participants, US Navy Commander
John Collins, dreamt up a race to settle the argument.
He proposed combining three existing races together, to be completed
in succession: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu
Bike Race (112 miles, originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu
Marathon (26.2 miles).
“Whoever finishes first we’ll call the ironman,”
said Collins. Fifteen men participated in the initial event held
on February 18, 1978; 12 completed the race, led by the first
ironman, Gordon Haller. His winning time was 11 hours, 46 minutes
and 58 seconds.
