Tsawwassen triathlete Gene Lecuyer had finally made it to the world title event in the Vinfast Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Oct. 26 to 28.
But in order to do well, to hit a personal best or close to it, everything had to go the right way, to fall into place.
It wasn't meant to be however as muscle cramps dogged his performance during the gruelling, all-day event.
“You try to take in fluids … take in electrolytes, salts, and then try to keep moving forward. I couldn’t really take any running strides at the end without a cramp stopping me … so the best I could do was keep walking. Got to the finish.”
He finished with a time of 11 hours, 32 minutes, well below his expectations, in the 50-to 54-year-old category.
In order to qualify for the world finals, he previously ran a triathlon in Australia in nine hours, 46 minutes.
“It just wasn’t my day,” Lecuyer said.
But “I wasn’t dropping out. There’s no way I wasn’t getting to the finish line.
“To have a personal best, a lot of things have to go right,” he said.
The Hawaii triathlon included a 3.8-km swim, a 180-km bike ride and a 42-km marathon run.
“I had an amazing time. It was just an incredible experience to be part of it, so much energy and excitement around this race, it’s just unlike any race I’ve ever been part of before,” he said.
Lecuyer, who runs EXL Engineering in Delta, has raced in triathlons around the world.
He said the Penticton Ironman Canada triathlon, his first race in 1997, as among his favourites.
The Penticton race is moving to Ottawa next year.
For spectacular scenery, the triathlon in Cairns, Australia, was an “absolutely beautiful race course.”
“That was the best for scenery,” he said.
But Hawaii was spectacular as well, but tough. Strong winds and baking, black lava rock fields created tough conditions.
“It’s amazing to see and a challenging conditions, course to race on,” he said.
Out of the three modes of racing, Lecuyer likes the running.
“I’ve always been a runner,” he said.
Qualifying for the world triathlon title event has been a major goal since he started competing in triathlons.
“It’s been a dream of mine for 25 years. It’s been on my bucket list ever since,” he said.
Getting to such an event is a team effort, he points out, thanking his wife Lisa, for support and his strength trainer, physiotherapist, chiropractor and the people of Delta for all their help.
“My wife … has been there for me the whole time, my chief motivator, my personal chef, my sports psychologist, you name it, she's been there.”
It's impossible to compete without a good team, he added.
After the Hawaiian adventure there was little time to relax, as he and his wife Lisa were signed up to enter the New York Marathon the following weekend.
