The blog I always dreamt of writing but deep down, never thought I would write.

Like most triathletes, qualifying for Kona was always a dream, something I would love to do one day but never thought I would actually qualify.

In July 2021 at Ironman UK, that dream became a reality when I qualified for the 2021 Ironman World Championships. Ultimately, that race was cancelled and here we are 12 months later going again.

knowing that I was going to Kona 12 months in advance was a massive money saver for me, I was able to make my hotel reservation the day they released the dates, and I booked the rental car and flights 10 months in advance. I checked the hotel price in August and what I paid for the week 12 months ago was now the rate per day!

Qualifying is hard, racing Kona is hard and paying for Kona is hard on your wallet!

On the Monday of race week, I flew out of Heathrow to Kona with a 3hr layover in San Francisco. It was a long day of travelling and I felt wrecked when I finally arrived at the Kings Land by Hilton Grand Vacations in Waikoloa. The apartment was a 30min drive from the airport and around 35mins from Kona.

I decided to stay out of town to keep away from all of the Kona madness and have more of a holiday feel in the days beforehand. This worked well for me, I felt relaxed and well-recovered.

I wrote a daily “travel blog” whilst out here which you can read via the links below if you want to get a better feel for the days leading into the race.

Kona – Day 1: Travel Day

Kona – Day 2: Registration

Kona – Day 3: Day Trip

Kona – Day 4: Womens World Champs

Kona – Day 5: Bike, Helmet & Gear Check-in

Kona – Day 7: Last Day in Hawaii

Tuesday – Registration

I travelled into Kona Tuesday afternoon to do the registration and collect the gear bags and numbers.

I parked up at the old Kona Airport and walked the mile to King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel where the registration was being held.

Ahead of time, we had to select a slot via our Active account. I had picked 4pm-5pm fully expecting the jetlag to be kicking in by then so I was going to get the registration done and head straight back to the apartment.

There isn’t a great deal to say about the registration, it was in one of the halls at the hotel and the usual Ironman process.

The swag was good though, a lot better than what I am used to with the Ironman events in England. The event bag was fantastic, we had a towel and I finally got my qualification coin.

After registration, you are filtered out into the merch tent, another Ironman tradition. I came out ok, I didn’t spend too much money on things I don’t really need but really I do want them. I came out with an Ironman World Championship cap and t-shirt. I could have brought so much more.

With this being my first trip to Kona I had a walk around some of the places I had seen on TV so many times over the years. Ali’i Drive, the pier, the finish area etc.

The race briefing in English was held at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel too but they were doing this far too late for me, it was due to begin at 8pm so I skipped this, and went back to the apartment. I felt sorry for the women who were racking the next day but were forced to stay up late for a race brief.

The race brief was recorded and loaded onto the website the next day. They should have just done that from the get-go.

Friday – Racking & Bag Drop

Having registered on Tuesday I then spent Wednesday on a day trip around the island and Thursday watching the women’s race and relaxing.

Friday morning was bike, helmet and gear check-in for the men’s race (women checked in on Wednesday). Like registration, you had to select a time window via your Active account. I had picked 3pm-4pm to get it done early and head straight back for dinner and an early night.

The process was really straightforward and ran smoothly, with no real difference to other Ironman races. The only difference I found was we had to leave the helmet on the bike. In the UK and European races I have done, we put the helmet in the bike gear bag.

I did have to go back to my bike as I had forgotten to let the air out of my tyres. With the bikes standing in the sun for the remainder of the afternoon, there would be a good chance that heat would burst the tyre. They said that there will be plenty of track pumps available in transition on race morning.

We then feed back out through transition in the opposite direction to where you come out of the swim. Firstly dropping off the run bag.

Passed the change tents & toilets to drop off the blue bike bag.

Standing on the pier was the first time I could get a good clear view of the swim course. Since I had come on Tuesday, they had put out all of the buoys to mark the course. This was when you realise just how far the swim is, it looked such a long way when it is fully mapped out and back.

After that I called into Wal-Mart grabbed a pizza and drove back to Waikoloa. Ate dinner in the apartment and got my swim gear, bottles & nutrition together ready for tomorrow.

By 9:30pm I was in bed with the alarm set for 3:45am.

Saturday – Race Day!!

Last night I slept really well. Typically I don’t sleep that good before a race. I was relieved to have got a good sleep with waking up so early.

I had brought my own porridge oats from home so I could have my usual pre-race breakfast before driving to Kona.

I parked at the old Kmart where Ironman was putting on a shuttle to the start area.

Once down at the start, it felt very chaotic getting into the transition area. There were multiple lines feeding into two lines for personal needs bag drops.

When we got into the transition, everything was ok. I had no issues finding a line for a track pump, most of the volunteers had a pump and torch so you could see the reading.

When you are done in transition you head back out onto Ali’i Drive to line up in your swim wave. I was in the 3rd wave for 40-44 age groupers going off at 7:05am.

Swim – 2.4 Miles – 01:14.29

Waiting there to start the swim was when reality started to sink in. I am actually going to race Kona! Watching the pro men go in followed by two age group waves the excitement just kept building.

I wasn’t feeling nervous about this one, I knew it was going to be one of it not the toughest race of my life and I was fully prepared for that. I had not set myself any time goals, I just wanted to go out there, soak it all in and enjoy the experience.

We were called into the ocean about 10mins before our start time. The start line which was formed by surfers paddling back and forth was 100m out from the beach. This gave us a short warm-up before treading water.

With a minute to go the surfers turn side on to open up the line then the horn blows and I am now racing the Ironman World Championship in Kona!!!

There were over 500 athletes in my wave and all going off in one mass start was something I hadn’t experienced on that scale. There was a mass start at Challenge Roth but that was a smaller wave than Kona. The first 500m were carnage! I was kicked and hit constantly, and people pushing and dunking. I tried hanging towards the back of the pack to get some space.

It wasn’t until the watch beeped 500yrd that I really started to feel like I had some space and was able to find some rhythm. From there on I had space in front of me to swim into at my own pace. For around 3,000m I had some guy right on my feet, 3 or 4 times every minute he was touching and knocking my feet, this was really annoying me, I get why he was catching a draft off me but knocking me constantly was so off-putting. I ended up nicknaming him tickler.

The swim was beautiful though, the water was so clear and you could see little colourful fish swimming beneath you.

Around two-thirds into the swim, I started to slow a little but I wasn’t too bothered by that, I just kept telling myself that today is about finishing not pushing hard to try and hold a pace so early on.

I had a time of 1:20 in mind for this swim. With this being my first non-wetsuit swim and a sea swim I was fully expecting to be at least 10 mins slower than last year. To see that I finished the swim in 1:14.29 was a pleasant surprise.

T1 – 8.35

The swim-to-bike transition went well for me, I am not one to rush these things. I took my time to shower off the salt water and then dry off my arms, legs and feet. I put on socks and calf sleeves before covering myself with sunscreen.

Bike – 112 Miles – 05:58.46

I went into the bike knowing all too well that my bike split is likely to be one of the slowest today. Race an Ironman on a road bike is going to give an added challenge but racing Kona just exaggerates that tenfold.

Knowing this, I didn’t even harbour any ideas of pushing the pace hard, I would just be wasting energy trying to keep up with those riding and a much lower wattage and heart rate.

A little like the swim, I was going to hold back and enjoy it.

The first part of riding through Kona town was amazing, the crowd support here gave you such a boost, I don’t think I stopped smiling through that first 15miles. I was already dripping with sweat despite not pushing the pace.

I knew hydration and nutrition were going to be key today and sweating this much so soon was a clear indicator of just how important drinking is going to be. My aim was to get through 2 bottles an hour.

Once we turned on to the Queen K things settled down. The road was undulating but no big hills to go up or down. It was just proper head down and ride. Something that does not suit the bike or position I had. So many people were coming past me all the way out to 60 miles where the turnaround point at Havi was.

At this stage I felt good, I had controlled it and taken it very steady, with the next 15 miles all downhill I decided to push the pace slightly and ended up catching and passing other people now. I was averaging 25mph and starting to enjoy it even more. It had been cloudy through this section and that had brought the body temperature down.

When we turned back on to the Queen K again for the last 40 miles, I quickly realised that I was feeling good just now purely because of the downhill more than anything else.

Those last 40 miles felt like a long slog. My ass was aching and just feeling uncomfortable, the cloud cover had gone and the full heat was beating down on me. During each of the aid stations, I had been tipping bottles of water over my back, this ended up washing the chain lube off leaving the gears grinding. More annoying than slowing me down but these small things add to the mind games.

It was a relief turning to go down the hill into Kona and into transition once again.

Although I had struggled through a lot of the second half of the bike leg, the overall time wasn’t too far off my bike PB from Challenge Roth. I was starting to wonder whether I might be able to have a look at a new PB today if the run goes to plan.

T2 -9.10

The bike-to-run transition was much like the first. I did take off the calf sleeves now, that aero gain is not so much on the run lol. I made sure I spent a good amount of time applying more sunscreen. As much as I want to race and push for PB’s I don’t want to do that at a risk to my longer-term health so I always make sure I have sufficient sunscreen to protect my skin as best I can.

Run – 26.2 Miles – 04:36.25

My runs always start off really well, I find that I can get up to a good pace quickly and hold that for around 6 miles. Knowing that my plan today was to slow that pace to easy run pace and hold it for a lot longer than 6 miles. As with the bike, if not more so, the hydration on the run is KEY!

I made it to the first aid station without stopping, they were spaced out approx. 1.6 miles apart so I was going to run between the aid stations and then walk through each one to get as much fluids onboard as possible.

Running up Ali’i drive was amazing, just like on the bike, the crowds were awesome! so many people shouting your name and cheering you on.

As good as that was, it also highlighted just how isolated and quiet the 16-mile stretch on the Queen K and Energy Lab was.

As I was quite far back in the race I found that 3 of the aid stations on the Queen K had ran out of water and ice as well as having no Maurten Gels left. I was hot and feeling it by this stage and this broke me mentally. I had no gels with me as I was using the on-course nutrition and not having the ice to cool me just left me feeling hotter and hotter.

From mile 14 to the finish I walked quite long chunks. The aid stations around the Energy Lab were better, they had water, ice and gels so I stocked up with 4 gels to see me to the finish. That gave me a mental boost and I did start running between the stations once again, a slower pace than earlier but a lot faster than walking.

Once back out of the Energy Lab and back on the Queen K, I was faced with the aid stations with no water or ice, the sun was setting and I knew I had 8 miles left in the dust/dark.

More run/walking over those miles until mile 23 when I just felt like I couldn’t run away more, even jogging had me sweating buckets, the body was overheating and telling me it had, had enough, I ended up walking mile 24 and 25 until a German spectator started walking with me telling me that it was just 1.2km to the finish, 1.2km until you are an Ironman World Champion, not quite a world champ but I really appreciated what he was doing.

I started to run again, I ran down the hill into town, I ran through the crowds still lining the streets and I ran straight down the red carpet where Miley Riley shouted “Come on Mark, welcome home…. You are an Ironman!

I had finished the Ironman World Championship. The dream I dared to dream and worked so hard to achieve was a reality.

Overall:

12:07.22 – 485th in 40-44 Age Group, 1,958th overall

Final Thoughts

Today wasn’t about the time, the splits, the pace or the power. Today was about achieving my lifetime goal of racing in the Ironman World Championship in Kona. Something I didn’t think I was good enough to do and something I was expecting to be chasing for my whole life.

In the end, I raced 1 full distance Ironman in 2021 and qualified and raced Kona in 2022, doing both on a road bike.

Kona was every bit as tough and brutal as I expected. It was so hot and humid, I struggled and had to battle to get around but I did it.

I have always liked the quote “Do what you Can’t”. in 2015 I didn’t bike, hadn’t run or swum since high school and certainly hadn’t ever thought about doing a triathlon let alone an Ironman. I was told I can’t do this and that on my bike, you can’t race an Ironman on a road bike, you can’t race Kona on a road bike, I was told you can’t run a sub 4hr marathon or you can’t swim 2.4 miles.

Well, I have run a sub-3hr marathon, I have ridden my bike around Death Valley in 110’c heat, I have swam 2.4 miles, I have done triathlons and I have just raced in the Ironman World Champs.

Go out there and do what you can’t