Not official but still an Ironman
Kym Pick is an Ironman, but not officially.
The Australian woman battled for 17 hours and 10 minutes to complete the gruelling 225 kilometre Ironman New Zealand course in Taupo on Saturday, but that 10 minutes meant she wasn’t an official finisher.
In theory she missed out on a medal. In theory she can’t call herself an Ironman. That theory is rubbish.
Having finished about eight hours earlier, three-time Ironman NZ women’s champ Meredith Kessler and men’s champ Marko Albert were on hand to greet Pick on her arrival across the finish line.
It was 10 past midnight, and two thousand fans stayed to applaud and urge Pick across the line, escorted by two volunteers down the final straight.
Hunched over, struggling to put one foot in front of another, Pick finally made it as the crowd erupted in a roar to wake anyone sleeping in Taupo.
That’s when Kessler took her winner’s medal, won in a course record time, from around her neck and placed it over Pick’s.
‘‘Are you sure?’’ an exhausted Pick asked. ‘‘I’m positive,’’ Kessler replied. It was a moment which captured the very essence of the Ironman spirit, and was worth a 17-hour wait to witness.
Two minutes before the midnight cutoff, James Udy staggered over the finish line.
Unable to stand straight, the Warkworth man was defying gravity to remain on his feet and make it to the end.
Retired naval diver Mike Ramsay, in his early 70s, finished the course with 15 minutes to spare, the applause and support as loud as it was at 3.15pm when Albert crossed the line.
Commentator Mike Reilly had the same message for every finisher. ‘‘You are an Ironman!’’ Of the 1607 starters – the biggest field ever – 1498 finished.
It’s by no means an embarrassment not to make the finish line, braving a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and a marathon run.
Elite athletes had the same struggles, with top seed and defending champion Bevan Docherty unable to finish. Docherty will be back next year, and you can bet those amateurs will be too.
They want to be an Ironman.