Monday, June 15, 2009
At 20 years old, John McGreevy completed his 17th triathlon Sunday morning. McGreevy, Wichita junior, swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles and ran 13.1 miles at the Ironman 70.3 Kansas triathlon at Clinton State Park.
The triathlon had 2,000 particpants, including 2008 world champion Chrissie Wellington from the U.K. who won the women’s title with a time of 04:14:52, and professional triathlete Luke Bell from Australia who won the men’s title with a time of 03:49:35.
Photo Gallery
Ironman Triathlon
Nearly 2,000 athletes from around the world gathered for the 70.3-mile race Sunday at Clinton Park.
McGreevy finished the Ironman 70.3 Series, which is half the distance of the full Ironman, with an overall time of 05:12:41. He said he was pleased with his performance that day because he surpassed his time from last year’s triathlon by 35 minutes.
McGreevy said triathlons had been a part of his family’s life since he was a young boy. He followed in his older sister’s footsteps and participated in his first IronKids Wichita competition, a 2.3 mile event for his age group, when he was seven years old. He participated in IronKids every year until he turned 13, when he completed a 10.2 mile triathlon. McGreevey said he stayed active in high school by running track and swimming. He also competed in local triathlons, sometimes three in a single summer.
“I feel lucky to have stumbled on triathlons when I was younger,” McGreevy said. “I’ve been running and swimming competitively since I was six, so it comes naturally.”
McGreevy competed in his first Ironman 70.3 in 2008, which was the first Ironman event to be held in Kansas. He said he planned to continue participating, especially if the Ironman 70. 3 kept returning to Kansas.
“As long as it continues to draw a large number of people, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be here,” McGreevy said.
A wide variety of age groups were represented at this year’s race. Callum Shayer, St. Louis, 17, was the youngest athlete to compete in this year’s event and Don Hart, Edmond, Okla., 75, was the oldest.
McGreevy competed against two other University students.
Ryan Saxton, McLouth junior, said his participation in a recent marathon sparked the idea to combine his running with other types of races.
“I’ve never been too competitive,” Saxton said. “I just really enjoy running mainly.”
Doug Zimmerman, Kansas City, Kan., senior, said his main goal was just to finish the race because he had never competed in anything at that distance before.
“The swim and the bike turned out to be easier than what I had expected,” Zimmerman said. “The real pain didn’t really set in until about five minutes after I had finished. Then all of sudden my body started really feeling the effects of that whole morning.”
Even though he’s still an amateur, McGreevy said he hoped to accomplish the full Ironman in Louisville, Ky. in August.
“The full Ironman will be more like a rite of passage rather than a race for me,” McGreevy said. “I have goals for myself, but I just want to accomplish finishing.”
— — Edited by Justin Hilley
Ironman race Sunday at Clinton State Park
Event starts at 6:30 a.m. with a distance swim in Clinton Lake.
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