Telford Ironman
IT'S bad enough running a marathon, but how about swimming 2.4 miles and cycling 112 miles as a warm-up? Stubbington's Caroline Street has completed one of sport's most gruelling events - the Ironman. Click here for photos.
Caroline has been regularly competing in triathlons for several years now. An accomplished cyclist and regular runner with Stubbington - including the completion of several marathons - Caroline began swimming lessons in Titchfield a few years back to help her in the water. Since then she has not looked back.
At Telford last month, Caroline completed the course in 14hrs 41mins and 35secs. The day started at 6am at a cold boating lake in Shropshire, on a wet and windy day. It was so cold that one woman only managed 100 metres before giving up!
Caroline said she didn't feel the cold, probably because she was so nervous and hyper. She completed the swim in 1hr 26min 20sec, before setting out on the 112 mile cycle ride. She managed to average 18mph for the first half of the bike discipline, but when she put on her waterproof jacket, this seemed to act like a sail in the headwind and slowed her considerably.
The cycle ride took 7hrs 3min 4sec, which left the simple task of running a 26.2 mile marathon. According to Caroline, towards the end the run it was a case of merely putting one foot in front of the other.
She completed the marathon in a time of 6hrs 11min 31sec and with it earned the accolade of completing the Ironman triathlon.
The first man finished in 8:53.44 and the first woman in 10:33.22.