Tri… what now?
We call it a multisport event, so it’s a swim, a bike ride and a run. It really became popular after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, because that’s the first time it became a recognised Olympic event. Before that point it was just all these crazy Australians and guys from California that would run 200 miles for whatever reason.
Sounds like hell. Surely it can’t be popular?
It’s the largest expanding participant sport in the Western world. I think that’s just because it’s a simple sport to do. Guys that were out riding a lot figured they could run – because everyone can run, just about – so all they needed to do was learn to swim, and then they could take part.
And the punishment involves?
There are four internationally recognised distances. There’s the Olympic distance, which is a mile swim, followed by a 40km bike ride, followed by a 10km run. The current champion does it in about an hour and 45 minutes. It’s absolutely incredible. We’ve got some guys here in Abu Dhabi who will do that in about two hours 15 minutes. One fellow, Troy Watson, thinks nothing of a quick 150km bike ride to start the day.
Are you sure he’s human?
He recently took part in the Kona Hawaii Ironman World Championship.
Suspected as much – superhuman.
The name kind of suggests that these are not things to be taken lightly. The full Ironman is a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride, followed by a marathon – all in a day. The world champions do this in about eight or nine hours.
Is there anything for the average flabby Dhabian?
There’s a shorter distance, which they call the sprint distance. It’s an 800m swim, 20km bike ride and a 5km run. You’re looking at an hour and 45 minutes. That’s the first one people will normally do after two or three months of training, depending on your base fitness level. It doesn’t take a lot to do the sprint distance – a bit of mental commitment more than anything.
But why would you do that to yourself?
You really catch the runner’s buzz. You finish the race and it’s so much fun afterwards and you’re like, ‘Wow! Look at what I’ve just achieved.’ So you want to do the next distance up – you want to go to the Olympic distance, and it’s like, ‘What a personal achievement!’ Now I want to go and do the half Ironman – almost twice the Olympic distance. It just becomes a personal thing at this point.
So how do you fit these mega-distances onto Abu Dhabi island?
We swim down at Ras Al Akbar, down near the old Ladies’ Club, from headland to headland. We have a 1.5km loop that we do, which is quite nice, then there’s a longer loop that some guys do that brings you to the Emirates Palace headland, which is 2.4km. Most of the bike rides are in the Al Bateen area, 34th Street, because it’s fairly quiet out there; it’s early morning – most of us will be up and riding at 5.30am for a couple of hours – that’s the painful part. And then there’s a long bike ride, which starts out near the airport, and the guys head out towards Sweihan. The distances there vary between probably 80km (about three hours) up to about 150-160km for the guys training for the full Ironman. Not my cup of tea. Some of those guys will start at 3.30 in the morning.
You don’t do the full triathlon every session, do you?
No! Maybe once or twice a week people will do two events together, so when we swim on Saturday morning a lot of us will run beforehand, or we’ll cycle afterwards. You wouldn’t do all three events.
And if I’m mad enough to get involved, what will it cost me?
It’s all free! We have a website and all levels are welcome. There’s a forum on the website to ask advice about fitness levels and other information. It’s a great bunch of people as well; such a variety of walks of life and nationalities. It’s real comedy!
For more information, call Russ Fraser on 050 445 0964, or visit www.abudhabitriclub.org.
Local hero
The Abu Dhabi triathlon community suffered a huge loss in August this year when Mark Pringle, a founding father and former champion of Ironman who was based in the emirate, died following a road accident. Russ Fraser told us, ‘The club is still reeling from the shock. He was essentially our pro. He could inspire my grandmother to take up the sport.’ A recent triathlon meet in the capital was held in his memory.
