Fresh from his Ironman debut we have Andy Curtis with us today. How are you doing Andy?“Well I feel a little sore but you know, if I didn’t I would not feel so good about completing my first Ironman. Apart from that I am buzzing, I dreamt of doing 13:30 hours but really never thought it was possible. When I finished and called Sarah and the kids, the congratulations and shouts from Cornwall were great to hear, I could easily have cried like a baby.”
We know you were nervous before the event and that you worried about the amount of training you had managed to do. Now you have completed your first Ironman do you think your preparation was good?
“Your right I was very nervous. Ha, I sat outside Martins tent on Saturday shaking with nerves, but everyone told me I could do it. Sarah my darling and awesome wife who has been more than considerate and tolerant throughout my training told me I could do it and that a time did not matter, I could do it, even if it took 17 hours. She was right, I knew that, but I still put that time pressure on myself. It’s silly, I mean who do I think I am? Some sort of superstar or something? If only! From the moment I arrived in Rivington I felt out of my league, the beefcake, the leanness, the kit, around there! What was a little middle aged guy like me doing there?”
And did you get support from anyone else?
“It’s funny, if you tell someone your doing an Ironman the first thing they ask is, what’s that? Then you tell them, it’s a 2.4mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike and finished off with a marathon. Well by that time they are looking at you, as if you are completely nuts, but as the time approaches they call to say good luck and it means a lot. But, I absolutely must say a massive thank you to Carol and Terry Bennett, for putting up with me and my nervous dribble the day before and taking care of me after. I can’t believe someone would get up at 4am, make me porridge and take me to a cold dark lake, ummm maybe I should be asking why he was so keen! TB & Carol, a huge thank you goes to you.”
How about your kids?
“All of them called to wish me good luck, it was great to hear them say good luck. I don’t think they could believe that I was actually about to do this thing. They have heard me going on and on and on about it for so long and could not see how I would be able to do it. Dan would tell me, “your going to die!” Ollie thought it would be awesome if I could do it, but being a little older than Dan, took on board my fears and Sophie has made me a box to put my medal in. I think it’s brilliant that they have been able to see that if you think something might be impossible but you break it down into pieces and tackle one piece at a time then you can achieve anything. I hope they take this away and remember it in their lives. And each time I crossed a timing mat I imagined them tracking me on the internet, I am a softy because it would bring a tear to my eye. Your emotions are right out, very close to the edge in an Ironman with it feeling like a major achievement”.
That’s great, and a great message to send out there, so do you think anyone could do an Ironman?
“Not sure anyone could do one, but yeah, if you set it as a goal, focus and plan, then yep, most people could do it, I do think anyone could do a marathon. Take doctors advice first though!”
So there you were, 6am and in the transition area with over 1300 others. Talk us through that.”
“It was dark to begin with and muddy. My first call was for the portaloo before everyone else had the same idea. I was still wandering if I would make it around, remembering Sarah’s comments from the Saturday and still nervous. But I was there, bags in, wetsuit on, I had to change right there next to my bike, fellow competitors all around and I dropped my pants to get my swim trunks and wetsuit on! I guess everyone had their own preoccupations. Wetsuited up, no chance to take another portaloo break, I was committed and followed the announcers instruction to go down to the lake. We were all chatting, comparing stories. Did it help my nerves? Not sure, everyone around me looked like superman, had superbikes and had done it all before. I was the ‘flounder’ in a sea of sharks, out of my depth, out of my class and wandering what I was doing there. I got in and promptly wee’ed in my wetsuit, couldn’t help it, sorry Bolton drinking water! Then positioned myself somewhere near the middle and the outside edge. I looked over and there were lots of people just getting into the water. Then the start happened. A hooter? I don’t know, just a mass of people starting to swim, arms, splashing, legs kicking. The washing machine had started and I found myself pretty much in the middle of it. Couldn’t do anything about it, had to swim and hope I got some clear space. The nerves had gone, just like that, I was not at the back, I had started, I was giving it a go. I could see about 1.5 meters in the water. Before we started the turn buoy looked a long way away, but it came up quickly and the turn meant everyone bunched up. It’s like a tight shoal of sardines and I figured I deserved my space as much as anyone else, so I squeezed between people to find space and tried to keep going. I did find space and never felt fatigued. In fact coming to the end of the swim I thought, that was quick. I swam to the exit, got hauled out and looked at my watch. Yeah it had been a good swim time for me, I was happy and felt good.”
You exited the swim in 1:19, you must be pleased with that and ran to T1.
“I am awesomely happy with my swim time. Yeah a long run up the hill to the marquee. I went into the men’s changing bit so I could ‘get naked’. I decided I was going to do a full change and not wear a trisuit, maybe next time I will. Wetsuit off, trunks off, no time to be embarrassed, bike gear on, important cream for important places (and a lot of it), and off. I was surprised to find it took over 13 minutes. Anyhow I found my bike OK, wanted to grab one of the 1000 Cervelo bikes I saw, but took mine instead. I was off, out on the bike course”.
The course very quickly starts to go uphill at IMUK, were you OK for that?
“Before the hill starts you go down hill and across the dam which is lined with people. So your doing 20mph plus past crowds cheering and clapping, then the hill starts, Rivington Barn is on the right and is a focal point for more crowds and the IMUK announcer on a PA and it’s all for you. The climb starts and the crowd thins out. There are chalked messages on the road and at the top Tritalk supporters making lots of noise, fantastic. Being a small guy I don’t have a lot of weight to haul uphill so I did quite well overtaking some, but still being overtaken by others with their disc wheels, aero helmets and 4,000 pound bikes. It was a reasonably tough climb with 2 steeper sections but not as bad as up to Cold Harbour out of Dorking. I did wander how I would handle it the third time around though. The decent is excellent. I must have been doing over 40mph down that hill. I had the whole road width and called out as I approached to overtake people. What a rush. Had I come off it would have been different! The other main feature about this bike course is the wind. It’s in your face for a lot of the course they have circular wind in Bolton or something. At the beginning of the bike I suffered with stomach cramps. I was a bit concerned, but I have had something like it after a long lake swim in the past so I expected them to go away. The cramps were persistent until I started to let off wind! Yep that helped, so I decided not to be embarrassed about it and let them rip!”
Apart from the hills and wind! How did you feel cycling 112 miles?
“I have never cycled that far before, I was conscious about my energy and found myself having times when I felt great and sped along at speed and others when I felt slow. I feared the hills and did not feel confident about the third time up Sheep House Lane. As I approached the end of the 2nd lap, I checked my gel bottle, I still had more than a third left. I drank back a load and ate an energy bar before reaching the hill so when it happened I climbed and breathed in and out like a train. I got to the top (great view from up there), and felt good. Yeah not like good it’s a walk in the park, but good like I might just have enough in me to finish this bike course”.
Your bike time was 7:17 and you entered T2
“An average time I think, a reflection of the amount of time I spent training on the bike. T2 was a relief, I was ready to get off that bike. Felt sure I had blisters behind my ‘mans bits’. The announcer shouted out my name to the crowd and a helper took my bike. I did not care I would have given my bike to anyone at that point, pleased to get off. 112 miles, 1 wee stop, countless bottles of water and Gatorade, no punctures, no crashes, I was pleased. First stop was the portaloo, and I think 3 minutes must have been spent in that portaloo weeing, I couldn’t stop! I took my T2 bag and again did a full naked strip change, drank the drink mix I had in my T2 bag and started to run. I heard the announcer tell the crowd, Stephen Baylis had come in 2nd place. He overtook me half way around my second bike lap and continued on to finish before I had started the run, those guys are so fast.”
Triathletes often talk of the Ironman marathon shuffle.
“Well after 112 mile of going around in circles, you tell your legs to start running and they complain. It takes a few miles to get them going. It would be so easy to start walking but you tell yourself, you have 26 miles to go, get on with it and you carry on. Downhills there is no excuse to walk, and you need to run the flats or your going to be out there for ever. My strategy was to walk the aid stations and that gives you a goal. Run to an aid station, drink Gatorade or Coke, thrown water over your head, eat a banana or a gel, or both, then start running again. A good strategy that at some point becomes walk the uphills as well and then run as far as you can on the flats, take a walk break and start running again. At all costs, do not stop. I did stop a couple of times to have a wee. This is becoming a story of my weeing! I nearly stopped at an aid station to join in a conversation with the marshalls, but I quickly focused again and got back into the pain of running. I suffered on that run, from the start I had terrible backache, painkillers must have helped, but did not take the pain away completely.”
After 4:24 you finally reached the finish
“I was amazed with a 4:24 marathon time, I thought I had walked more than that, but what a finish. crowds everywhere, a finish shoot with red carpet a massive screen, about the size of a billboard, with me coming down the finishing shoot and the announcer screaming to the guy in front, “you better get a move on buddy he’s coming to hunt you down”, my legs churn over giving out their last effort, pleading for the finish line, my back is bent over and the pain burns. I high five the crowd, the TV cameras track me, floodlights, noise. I feel like a superstar, a fantastic moment like nothing I have done before. I can see the clock saying 13:22:45, I can’t believe the time. Tears well up in my eyes as I cross the line and the announcer souts out those words I have been training for, the words that I have just gone 140.6 miles to hear. Andrew Curtis, you are an Ironman”.
Andrew. Well done on your achievement. But there is just one more question that has to be asked. You know what it is. Will you do another Ironman triathlon?
“Absolutely I will if Sarah will let me, after all it’s not just about me, but next time they have to be at the finish, it is an atmosphere like no other, I just know it will inspire them to have a go, try something that they initially think is impossible.”
