Iron competitors show mettle in triathlon

John Whitmire crossed the finish line just after 7 p.m. on Saturday hand-in-hand with his two sons.

The Greenville, S.C., native had just completed the Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon, his first at that distance, in just under 12 hours.

“This is the most awesome athletic experience I’ve ever been a part of,” said the first-time Iron Distance competitor. “It’s the greatest race I’ve ever run in.”

Like most competitors, Whitmire had some motivation for getting to the finish line.

“All I kept thinking about was my wife and three kids the whole time.”

It seemed that finishing under 12 hours was the goal of most amateur competitors.

The race began with a 2.4-mile swim through Banks Channel. After the swim came a 112-mile bike ride from Wrightsville Beach up to White Lake and back to the Battleship. The 26.2-mile run started and ended at the Battleship.

Bjarne Moller, of the Netherlands, dominated the men’s field. He finished with a time of 8:47.25. Canada’s Mike Coughlin finished second at 9:21.09.

Sara Tussey, of Winston-Salem, was the women’s winner at 10:12.56.

Beating the setting sun served as

motivation for a few others. The sun began to set at around 6:18 p.m., giving athletes close to 111/2 hours to finish before dark.

Craig Gilbert, 49, from Durham finished as the sun was setting.

“I really wanted to be in before dark,” he said. “It was a little incentive, but this was my first one so I just wanted to finish and I did that.”

Keith Houck, 50, from Chapel Hill finished just after dark.

“The sun was setting while I was still on the bridge,” Houck said. “I was trying to beat it.

“When the sun starts going down you know the end is in sight, so you go as hard as you can the last few miles.”

Adam Rose, a Wilmington resident, crossed the finish line to much applause. Even though he is not originally from the Port City, Rose is proud of how the city backed all the competitors.

“Wilmington has been unbelievable as a community supporting all the athletes,” Rose said as his family raced to see him. “I’ve been here for about 10 years and I wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else.”

He didn’t beat the sun, but it didn’t matter to Rose.

“I don’t care where the sun is as long as I am close to the finish line, it doesn’t matter to me.”

As much as Whitmire enjoyed the feeling of crossing the finish line, he is uncertain whether he will participate in another Iron Distance event.

“I don’t know, we’ll see how I feel tomorrow,” he said.