Cameron Widoff could not believe it. Maybe his watch was broken. But then a pal yelled it out: “5:30.”
The professional Boulder triathlete ran his first mile of the 26.2-mile leg of the Ironman World Championship in a staggeringly speedy 5 1/2 minutes. He’d just aced the bike leg of the world’s most famous triathlon, pedaling the 112 miles in a personal record of 4:28:44. The 2.1-mile swim went down in a little more than 52 minutes. This was it. With 25.2 miles to go, Widoff knew this was his best shot.
“When my buddy yelled out the split on the first mile, I thought, this is the day I have been trying to do for 15 years,” said the 36-year-old who has competed in every Ironman championship since 1990. “You probably have only a week total of those days in a lifetime. That’s if you do everything right. When I went through that first mile, I said to myself: ‘This is what living is all about.”‘
Widoff was the first American to cross the finish line, placing fifth with a time of 8:23:01, a personal best and a pinnacle in a career rife with crowns.
Colorado fosters some of the world’s top triathletes. Among the top 100 finishers in the 2005 Ironman championship, five were from Colorado. Only California, which has more than eight times as many residents as Colorado, had that many top finishers in the competition.
Colorado’s myriad training opportunities – road and mountain biking, skiing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, trail running, hiking, backpacking – can spice up rote training regimens that become drudgery for flatland athletes from other states. Then there’s the thin air that strengthens lungs and muscles. Even with a dearth of warm swimming holes, the environment makes the state a petri dish for top triathletes.
Diana Hassel moved to Colorado from California last year for a job as an equine surgeon and teacher at Colorado State in Fort Collins. Despite the 60-hour workweek that trimmed her training regimen by half, the 37-year-old logged her best time at her fifth Ironman in Kona, Hawaii, on Oct. 15.
“I think the altitude makes a big difference,” Hassel said. “I really noticed it swimming. There is a lot more oxygen down there. It just felt very easy.”
Hassel finished second among women in her 35-39 age group and ranked as the fastest Colorado female in the race, logging a time of 10:14:17.
She raced for a friend who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. But even that motivation and a record-setting bike leg could not save her from a meltdown 23 miles into the marathon.
“My entire intestinal tract stopped working. My legs were completely depleted,” she said, noting that her new training regimen included a mere 25 miles of running a week. “It was very hard to keep moving forward. The only thing that kept me going was my friend.”
Look for more top triathletes to emerge in Colorado, say both Widoff and Hassel. It’s not just the thin air that nurtures stronger runners, bikers and swimmers. It’s the people. Coloradans painted the state flag on the course in Kona. They waved signs and cheered their home racers like no other state.
“The people in Colorado get it. I mean they run, they bike, they are out there with me every day. I feel like I have an entire state behind me,” Widoff said. “It’s like I’m on top of a pyramid and everyone else in the race, they’re walking a tight rope.”
