The Ironman Next Door
Though it might be a stretch to compare our little corner of the world to other multi-sport havens like Mission Viejo, California, or Boulder, Colorado, in recent years, Barrington has developed a reputation as Chicago’s place to be for Ironman triathletes. The Ironman is the ultimate in triathlon distance events, beginning with a 2.4-mile swim and followed by a 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run.
The number of Ironmen (and women) who call Barrington home has reached several dozen. Former marketing executive and Barrington resident Steve Roberts says, “After retiring from Ameritech, we moved (from Barrington) to Boulder, where we lived for seven years. While Boulder is a great place (some call it the triathlon mecca), we missed our friends and family and decided to move back to Barrington two years ago. A big part of our decision was the availability of excellent training venues in and around Barrington and having other serious athletes here to train with.”
Nationally, the triathlon boom is in full swing (Triathlon magazine puts the number of “multi-sport” athletes at about 1 million). Race participation has grown 300 percent in the past five years. Still, less than 30 percent of triathletes actively compete, and fewer still attempt the sport’s long-course standard, the Ironman.
By every measure, Barrington’s Ironman community has established itself as a truly committed bunch, and they’ve been at it a long time. Even before Advocate Good Shepherd built its state-of-the-art fitness facility on Barrington Road eight years ago, serious runners and bikers were drawn to Barrington’s semi-rural setting as a great place to train. Now, with terrific indoor training options, even our harsh winters are no obstacle to Barrington’s Ironmen. Barrington resident Mark Linhardt completed his third Ironman in Arizona this past April after doing all of his bike training in the “spin room” at Good Shepherd. “Doing it this way definitively made me mentally tougher on the bike,” says the 36-year-old.
Local residents Gary Griffin and Quinn Heyden each completed their second Ironman in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in June. A lifelong athlete and owner of a local gymnastics business, Griffin was bitten by the Ironman bug at age 43. “Winning is certainly not the point of the Ironman,” he says. “Most of us are pushing for a chance to earn the finisher’s medal or improve on our time from a previous Ironman.”
Barrington’s Ironman community certainly includes women as well. Lifelong Barrington resident Arlene Overheu says she only started working out through the encouragement of others. “I more or less stumbled into it when some of my swimming partners at the Buehler YMCA asked me to sign up for a triathlon,” she says. That was in 1994. Now, at age 57, she’s completed four Ironman events, including a third-place age group finish in Madison, Wisconsin, two years ago. With abundant modesty, she explains, “There were only 11 of us in the age group. Four women behind me dropped out, and four others didn’t even show up to race. So I finished third.”
Barrington business owner and 25-year resident Pat Peppler will race in the Ironman National Championship at Kona, Hawaii, in October. As the long-course championship, Kona is the holy grail of the sport. Its slogan: “The Best Meet Here.” Last year, at age 56, Peppler qualified in Madison (the most popular Ironman event in our area), with a time of 11:12, second place in his age group. He’s a veteran of nine Ironman events, including all six Madison races as well as Ironman France and two finishes at Ironman Florida. With his Kona qualifier, Pat seems like he’s getting better with age, but he swears he does it simply “because it’s fun!”
A certain amount of “attainability” is perhaps what makes the Ironman in Madison so popular with local athletes. Many of Barrington’s finest athletes drive to Madison for training rides on summer weekends leading up to the race in September. On race day, the festive atmosphere of a college town is positively electric, and the double-loop bike course makes it a spectator-friendly venue as well. Anyone who attends an Ironman can’t help but come away inspired, and the event in Madison is no exception.
The first Ironman was held 30 years ago in Hawaii, and just 12 men finished (it was primarily a man’s sport in those days). The following year, 13 men and one woman crossed the finish line. At the time, it was a little-known event. But in 1980 Sports Illustrated and ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” covered the event, and the rest is history. Now, Ironman events regularly fill to capacity a full year in advance, just minutes after online registration opens – at $500 per slot! Responding to this demand, organizers withhold a portion of the entries and make them available in an online lottery for an additional $500 donation to charity.
Allowing for the logistics involved in staging a race that covers 140.6 miles, Ironman organizers generally hold the number of competitors to about 2,500 for each race. With a 7 a.m. start, the course remains open until midnight. While professional athletes can finish an Ironman in just over eight hours, the average finish time for “age-groupers” (amateurs) is about 12 hours.
In 30 years of Ironman events, a good deal of science has gone into understanding how to physically prepare for an event of such duration. Most athletes maintain some base level of fitness before starting what begins their Ironman-specific training, typically a period of about 24 weeks. Several books and training plans are available to minimize the guesswork, but there’s still an endless amount of swimming, biking, and running involved. Most plans prescribe a minimum of eight workouts a week, with a peak volume of 16 to 18 hours. Many athletes get their best results using personalized training plans available from online coaches. Local Ironman Steve Roberts, a veteran of 14 Ironman events, is a USA Triathlon-certified senior coach with the national organization TrainingBible.com, which offers personalized coaching for triathletes, runners, and cyclists.
Closely following behind the investment in time (and energy) is the investment in all that cool triathlon equipment. Triathlete magazine readership surveys show that the average triathlete owns three bikes and spends upwards of $24,400 on triathlon-related equipment each year. With $500 wetsuits and $5,000 bikes becoming the norm, it’s not hard to see why. Throw in a few airline tickets to Hawaii plus hotel nights for friends and family, and the investment piles up.
But it’s all that equipment that can sometimes bring fellow triathletes together. In 2006, our neighbors retired and moved away to Huntley. A cute, young couple bought the house and moved in. At their first house-warming get-together with neighbors on our street, I noticed bikes in the garage and evidence that they seemed to enjoy a fitness lifestyle. When I asked about this, my new neighbor told me that he had just raced in the Ironman in Panama City, Florida, and was training for the Ironman Madison. Being a triathlete myself, this created an instant connection for me. Now I’m signed up for my very first Ironman (in where else, Madison!). With luck, come September, I’ll be added to Barrington’s ranks of the Ironman next door.
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Steve Morissey is an 18-year resident of Barrington and is training for his first Ironman triathlon in Madison, Wis., September 7. He's completed five marathons (including Boston) and two half-Ironman distance triathlons. In 1992, Steve proposed to his wife, Laura using signs along Barrington's Otis Road during one of their weekly training runs. Laura teaches second grade and has completed nine marathons. They have a 10-year-old daughter, Mary.