Ironman Matt

Matt Survives Another Great Endurance Challenge

On Sunday August 30, Matt Sessions completed his first Ironman Triathlon in 12 hours and 40 seconds. This is pretty amazing for a guy who almost drowned in a little swimming pool a few years ago and then had a bad bike crash last year that kept him out of the 2008 Ironman.

Doug Alward was on-site in Penticton on Sunday giving me phone updates on Matt's progress in the Ironman Canada race. Doug's first phone call was to inform me that Matt hadn't drowned during the swim, but had completed the 3.8K distance in about 1 hour, 28 minutes. Doug somehow missed seeing Matt on the run, but called again at 7 PM to report that he had just heard Matt's name called out at the finish line and estimated his time at about 12 hours. Matt ran a fine marathon (3:44:48)but was not as competitive on the bike course, completing the 180 km ride in about 6 hours and 33 minutes. Conditions were hot and Doug said the cyclists faced a strong headwind in the last 30K.

Congratulations again to Matt and I'm sure he'll be fresh as a daisy for his next long race in Manning Park in a couple of weeks.