Last finisher hopes to get run a Kona spot
IF race officials had their way Chris East may not have been allowed to complete his 14th Ironman.
But when they approached him as he plodded along the Cairns Esplanade late on Sunday evening and looked a certainty to miss the cut-off time he didn’t want a bar of it.
The 61-year-old Brisbane man was the last person to cross the finish line, stopping the clock at just over 16.36 hours.
“Every time (race officials) came to talk to me about (pulling out) I just ignored them and kept running,” the fulltime operations manager said.
“It’s a test. It’s always a personal test to persevere and keep going.”
Although being six minutes past the cut off time Mr East is hoping for some mercy from officials because it would mean he would be eligible to enter the legacy lottery for a spot in the Kona World Championships.
He said he knew he would be pushed for time and had faced a race against the clock in the past five events he had completed.
The New Zealand-born man, who took up Ironman to keep fit after retiring from football, had to take seasickness tablets before the swim leg after getting motion sickness in a choppy race earlier this year. He enjoyed the bike leg along the Captain Cook Highway though. “The bike leg is scenic without a doubt, but 180km wherever you do it gets a bit trying,” he said.
This was East’s second Cairns Ironman, having competed in 2012.
He praised Ironman staff who were part of a vocal cheer squad which helped get him across the line just after 12.35am on Monday.