Barrow Ironman’s ultimate test of his mettle

Ulverston Tri Club’s head coach spoke to EMMA PRESTON about seeing a decade-long dream become a reality.

PAUL Rodger was “no athlete”, he stresses, the day World Championship triathletes raced through the New Zealand town he was living in ten years ago.

Then into surfing, he had taken up running and swimming to improve his fitness, having gained weight during his university years and a spell of travelling.

While he played some rugby socially in his youth, Mr Rodger claims to have been among the slower children at school and far from being a natural sportsman.

“I was up to 16 stone at one point,” he tells me. “I was basically just a slob”.

Fast-forward to 2015, and how times have changed. 

Now head coach at Ulverston Tri Club, Mr Rodger spends his spare time helping others get into the sport while repeatedly pushing himself to new limits.

Of the race through New Plymouth which inspired him ten years ago, the 41-year-old GSK project manager, of South Row, Barrow says: “It was just like, ‘Wow, that was amazing’ and I thought, ‘All I need to do is learn to bike’. 

“I bought a bike two weeks after and the following year I did my first triathlon.”

Researching his new-found interest led Mr Rodger to an online video of an event which was soon to become the object of years of endeavour - the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Ironman events see competitors take on a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile marathon run and are considered among the most difficult sporting events in the world.

The Hawaii event features 50 athletes from 40 qualifying races around the globe, resulting in an elite field of 2,000 from 80,000 potential competitors.

Mr Rodger said: “It took four years to get built up, get fit enough and get the courage up to do my first Ironman, but I still always had this in the back of my head, that I wanted to do this.

“About four years ago I decided I’d try to qualify, so the last three or four years I‘ve been getting better, working more, tweaking my training. I’ve learned so much over the last ten years to get to this level.”

Having completed his first Ironman in Barcelona in 2009, Mr Rodger competed twice in Wales, once in Nottingham and came third overall in Shropshire.

That, he said, gave him the confidence to try and break the UK event and qualify for a place in Hawaii.

On July 19, he completed Ironman UK in Bolton in ten hours and 30 minutes, having swum for an hour and five, cycled for five hours 44 and run for three hours 32.

Of what it takes to tackle a challenge of such a scale, he says: “It’s extremely difficult to put into words.

“You go through the ultimate highs and ultimate lows. At some points you feel fantastic, the crowds are everywhere, it just feels effortless - but then half an hour later you’re running down a side street and there’s no one there and your legs are hurting and you just feel you can’t carry on. 

“You still have times you want to quit, you don’t feel you can go any further, you feel like you’ve done enough. 

“You have to be more mentally strong than physically strong to complete an Ironman. You get through it because you won’t be denied.”

Allocation for the world championship is done by age group - the top competitors in each category being given the chance to take part in the Kailua-Kona event. 

If those who win a place opt not to take it, those who attend a tense “rolldown” ceremony are given a shot.

Mr Rodger was tenth in his 40-44 age group, for which there were seven places available. Then the first, third and fifth place competitors opted out.

He says: “I thought, ‘Hang on a second, I’m in, I‘m in’. I got the last place in my group, basically”.

“I wasn’t hopeful at all but I never would’ve forgiven myself if I hadn’t have gone.”

Mr Rodger will travel to Hawaii with his wife, Anna and eight-year-old daughter, Lilly in October this year. The event takes place on Saturday 10.

They are going to spend a week there before driving along the California coast and visiting Disneyland.

“It‘s going to be the trip of a lifetime,” Mr Rodger says, “I’ve been saving for years, just in case.”

In the Hawaii heat, facing elite athletes verging on professional, Mr Rodger is set to have the unusual experience of being one of the slower competitors in a race.

“I still want to be competitive and do a good time,” he admits, “but I‘m not putting any pressure on myself at all. “Yes I’ll train hard and yes I‘ll turn up in a good condition, but the result can just look after itself. 

“I just want to enjoy it. This is my victory lap for ten years of hard work.”

Mr Rodger hopes his story might inspire others to pursue endeavours they might see as impossible.

His efforts see him spend 15 to 20 hours a week in training, usually beginning sessions at 5.30am.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, “the events are very, very hard but the training is almost the hard part.  

“It‘s through hard work and determination and it‘s through doing everything you can. It’s not through athletic ability.”

Mr Rodger is now looking forward to taking a year out to enjoy some “fun” events with his friends - including Total Warrior and a 50-mile run around the Lakes.

Asked about his Ironman future, he says: “I don’t want to look past the race, to be honest. I’m focussing on going to Hawaii, enjoying it, having that lifetime experience and seeing how I feel after it.

“I probably will do it again but, at the moment, I’m living with knowing I achieved that dream.”