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Father’s Day draws biggest ever IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Down Under

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It used to be "the family that plays together, stays together."

But, now, as a legion of families from all corners of the globe prepare to touch down on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for the biggest ever IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship – on Australia’s Father’s Day (Sept 4) – it’s all about the family that trains and travels together to the best endurance challenges across the planet.

Staking its claim as a global adventure-endurance capital, Queensland sits high on the list; a destination where Mother Nature herself has thrown down the gauntlet, inspiring some of the world’s most awesome finishing lines on land and sea. Bucket list courses that draw the best of the best.

Among them is Japan’s Takashi Ohya, 73, from Kyoto, who started competing in triathlons just three years ago. Having completed two IRONMAN 70.3 courses in Taiwan, he’s excited about travelling to Mooloolaba (100km north of Brisbane) to tick off two firsts: his first world championship event and first visit to Australia.

The retired exploration geophysicist will line up against 3,267 athletes from 83 nations in a sporting challenge ranked among the toughest on Earth; the 70.3 or half IRONMAN – an epic 113km test of endurance (1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run).

“My job took me all over the world, but there were already too many good geophysicists in Australia, so it’s the last continent, apart from Antarctica, for me to visit,” says Takashi.

“I love competing in the IRONMAN 70.3 events and Olympic distance triathlons, mostly for fun and to meet young people. When I worked, I was almost the boss and so everyone said ‘Hello Mr Ohya’ and never used my first name.

“Now I can talk to young people very easily and I can join their party, so that makes me feel really good. I have made so many friends from around the world, in the order of 50 or 100.”

While Takashi’s wife and daughter do not compete in IRONMAN events, they will be travelling with him to cheer from the sidelines. Of course, he says, he is proud to compete on Father’s Day, setting a good example for his family.

“But what would make me very happy is if my daughter finds a nice partner in Australia,” he says. “A nice Aussie.”

American IRONMAN veteran, Bill Beyer, 55, meanwhile, is proud that both his children, who moved to Australia six years ago, have found Aussie partners.

Over nearly 20 years, Bill has clocked up more than 71 IRONMAN events around the world (including five Kona world championships in a tally of 21 full distance courses). Notably, seven of them with his children, Bucky, 30, and Penny, 27, including the 2014 IRONMAN in Melbourne.

Bill is looking forward to travelling to the Sunshine Coast to mark the 11th anniversary of the 70.3 world championship event, having competed in the inaugural challenge in Florida with his son in 2006.

After missing out on spending Father’s Day with his children in the United States (19 June), the high-flying partner with Deloitte Consulting, based in Virginia, is looking forward to celebrating an Aussie Father’s Day in the ‘best way possible’; competing in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.

Better still, Bill’s children – who moved to Australia six years ago, and now call Sydney home – will be there to cheer him on. For his son, Bucky, a week after being sworn in as an Australian citizen.

“We holidayed in Queensland as a family when the kids were very small… and I believe that visit and the dives on the Great Barrier Reef set a hook for them to want to live here,” says Bill. “Penny ate kangaroo meat for the first time, and cried before she tried it, then loved it!”

Although missing his children, Bill understands their love of Australia: “They both moved to pursue careers, and even more importantly to swim, bike and run in a country that breathes athletics and triathlons.

“We’ve been to some wonderful venues and swam, biked and run all over the world. My kids often say the times when they really needed to get ‘the daddy love’, they would either suggest a long bike ride or run. Now that they have Australian partners who are into the athletic lifestyle, I hope to soon have grandchildren to bike and swim with!”

Also competing in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, fellow American, Steven Bonawitz, 55, a physician who specialises in plastic and reconstructive surgery in New Jersey, is proud to qualify with his 23-year-old daughter, Katie.

“My son and daughter inspired me to take up endurance sports,” says Steven, who has finished six 70.3 and three full IRONMAN events with one or both of his children. “It started three years ago when they challenged me to do a marathon... a triathlon was next and it’s been non-stop since.”

For Steven, entering his first world championship event in Queensland is also particularly close to his heart. His mother, Barb, 81, was born in Townsville, moved to Brisbane to finish high school, then further afield, to America in the 1950s, earning a PhD in psychology at Michigan State University, where she met Steven’s father.

“We have a special connection to Australia, but Mum’s a little old now to make it back.”

Age, however, is no barrier for the oldest competitor at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. At 80, New Zealander, Garth Barfoot, will travel to the Sunshine Coast on the back of a trip to Rio to watch the Olympics.

“Being in Rio, watching the Olympics, has given me a taste of what it means to take part in an event with athletes from all over the world,” says Garth, who started competing in IRONMAN events when he turned 60.

“I’ve been doing my swim training for the world champs in the luxury pool at the Sheraton in Rio. Everyone thinks I must be retired, but the truth is I work four full days a weeks and am classified by Statistics NZ as a full time worker.”

Not even close to retiring as director of New Zealand’s largest privately-owned, family real estate business, Barfoot & Thompson, in Auckland, endurance events are a family affair for Garth’s clan.

“My wife, Judy, is a triathlete but does very few events these days because of pain in her knees,” he says. “Our three children have all done triathlons and our two oldest grandchildren have done their first. Our son met his future wife at a triathlete’s swim training squad.”

Garth is the first to recommend endurance events to others his age: “This is because the faculties that deteriorate with age are not an integral part of endurance racing – success is not dependent on having good eyesight, good hearing, good reaction time and good hand-eye coordination.”

For sure, he says, he’s proud to be competing in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship on the Sunshine Coast on Father’s Day, sending the right message to his children and grandchildren.

“But, every time I hear the starters’ hooter go off, I feel special. Special in that I am lucky enough to be still competing… although I’ve probably extended the range of what can be done on an artificial hip!”

© Japan Today

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