Wayne Stokley – Puslinch councillor – American Ironman.
On Sept. 4, Stokley spoke about his recent Mi Michigan Titanium Ironman Triathlon Competition on Aug. 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“The race is a 3.8km swim a 180km bike ride then a marathon run of 42.2km.
“My goal was to finish the race, and I did quite well in the swim and the bike. I was faster than most of my age group.”
However Stokley had more difficulty in the run as he suffered abdominal cramps.
He said that normally it would take him five or six hours to complete a similar run, but here it took 7.25 hours.
As a result, Stokley’s total time was 15 hours, 44 minutes and 17 seconds for the entire race.
“But it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Stokley has done a number of triathlons following his retirement eight years ago.
He’d done try-tri’s, sprints, Olympic and half-Iron contests.
“This was the last one on my bucket list to do because I’d never done an Ironman. It’s one of the things I’ve always wanted to do in retirement.”
Overall, Stokley said there were 120 who started out in the race and only 97 completed.
“I think I came in around 64th.”
Stokley added “I enjoyed it and I said to my wife at the end race ‘shoot me if I ever do it again.’ But a week later, I’m contemplating doing another one in a year or so.”
