I found a recent article that talks about a former Philadelphia Flyer of the NHL and now player development coach who completed an ironman competition. Despite having a pretty big setback resulting from a concussion from falling of his bike, Ian Laperriere finished the event and never looking back. At 39 years old and after a successful professional career in the NHL, it is of no surprise that Ian chose to take his abilities to the ironman circuit. Ian competed in the Ironman North American Championship hosted in Quebec. He finished 124th out of 258 finishers with a time of 12 hour, 11 minutes, and 55 seconds. He competed in the 35-39 division.
Ian was a bit scared that he wouldn’t be able to compete so he sought another opinion from his chiropractor. “I drove [to Montreal] a week before the race to see my chiropractor, who’s been treating me for 20 years. He told me all along that it wasn’t a concussion, it was whiplash with the stress of the event and that’s why I had those headaches. But it was the same feeling. In the back of my mind, I feel like I had a concussion — same headaches, same thing. That’s why I was depressed. My doctor told me all along that I’d be fine and he was right on.”
It is great to see how popular ironman events are becoming. Having professional athletes joining the mix makes it interesting and more fun. Some people say you are never too old to compete in an event and you see a lot of people still churning away in their fifties and so on. A lot of people do it for the lead up and training and the satisfaction that is felt upon finishing. The emotion that is experienced after completing a race is remarkable and for a lot of people it’s what they crave.
via Barry Oberholzer http://barryoberholzer.net/former-philadelphia-flyer-completes-ironman-competition/
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