Runner to take on Ironman as training
For most people an ironman event – swimming 3.8km, cycling 180km and running 42.2km – would be considered the ultimate endurance test.
But for one Paeroa man, tomorrow’s Ironman New Zealand in Taupo is merely a training session, as he prepares for a 250kmrun across the coldest continent on earth.
Sushi chef Gibeum Lee moved from South Korea five years ago, and tomorrow will be his third Taupo ironman.
Yet, an even sterner test awaits him in November with an epic run across Antarctica.
And Mr Lee, 52, only started running competitively when he was 40 because he ‘‘needed something to do’’.
In South Korea he took part in countless full marathons and did the Korean ironman three times. He has also taken part in a 100km ultra marathon.
Even that was not enough of a challenge.
‘‘I decided to take part in the 4 Desert Race Series and started with the Sahara Desert Race in Egypt in 2012,’’ he said.
The 4 Desert Race Series was founded in 2002 in Hong Kong and requires competitors to traverse 250 kilometres of rough country terrain over seven days with only a place in a tent and water provided each day – all food is to be carried.
The four races – the Gobi March, the Atacama Crossing, the Sahara Race and the Last Desert - take place in China, Chile, Egypt and Antarctica respectively.
The series is widely recognised as the most prestigious outdoor footrace series in the world and has ranked in the top ten endurance events in the world two years running.
Mr Lee completed the Chile and China legs of the race in 2013. He runs under the South Korean flag because that’s his nationality and the New Zealand flag as his residence.
In two of his desert races he was the only New Zealand resident taking part.
He said he is looking forward to Taupo and seeing what time he can achieve.
‘‘My best time for Ironman was in Korea in 2006, 12 hours 45 minutes, and I have not been that fast here yet,’’ he said.
Mr Lee’s daughter, Wonjae, said the whole family is going to go to Antarctica in November to support her father.
‘‘We are very proud achievements,’’ she said.
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