Two locals share stories from the 2001 Ironman Championships
Neither Mae Palm nor Dawn Weberg-Titus knew what to expect once they got to Kona, Hawaii for the World Ironman championships on Oct. 6. They were both just happy to qualify.
They had heard last year’s race was the windiest on record, and were prepared for more of the same – but neither racer realized just how windy things could get.
"I though Squamish was windy, and thought ‘just how bad can it be?’" says Palm, a 61-year-old veteran endurance racer who battled crosswinds in excess of 90 km/h to win the women’s 60 to 65 race in a time of 14 hours and 46 minutes. "I soon learned that my concept of wind and their concept of wind were completely different things. I had trouble just keeping my bike on the road."
At one point Palm passed a woman who was holding on to the handlebars of her bike as it flapped in the wind "like a flag." Every time she managed to wrestle it to the ground, another gust of wind would pick it up again.
"I wanted to help her, but I knew if I ever got off my bike I probably wouldn’t be able to get back on. I had enough trouble keeping my own bike in the bike lane, I was always blowing over the yellow centre line, towards the traffic that was coming the other way. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic coming the other way, only a couple of media vehicles, but it was really scary at times," says Palm.
A course marshal finally went and helped the woman, seeing that she was only racing in the recreational category; it would have been against the rules to help her if she had been in the pro division.
"The worst part was that you didn’t know which way it was going to hit you. One moment you’re leaning right, into the wind, and suddenly the direction would change and you would have to lean the other way – and fast – or get blown off the road."
Palm says it was as much a mental battle as it was a physical one to complete the 112 mile (180 km) bicycle section, and wished that she had at least driven the course once so she would know where the turnaround point was. She drew her strength from the other riders, who were going through the same things. Her biggest boost came from Weberg-Titus and Patrick Wadge of Squamish, who were already well ahead of Mae, but shouted encouragement to her as their paths crossed.
"One minute I’m alone, telling myself to hold on, and the next Dawn and Patrick are yelling ‘way to go Mae, hold on!’ I knew then that I was going to make it."
Palm finished the bike section, and happy to have both feet on the ground, ran a solid 26 miles (42.2 km) to the finish line – a full hour ahead of the second place competitor in her division, and almost two hours ahead of the third place finisher.
She earned an "Ironman World Champion" T-shirt and a trophy for her efforts, plus an invite to next year’s event. Despite the hardships, she says she will go if she is healthy.
"It was just the most wonderful experience. I stayed with some excellent people, I met so many people, and I held in there and finished the most difficult race in the event’s history," says Palm. "I just want to hear everyone’s stories from the race, even the people who didn’t make it."
Among the people who didn’t make it was Victoria’s Peter Reid, the defending Ironman World Champion. He was one of the first competitors out of the water, but couldn’t hold on through the bike section at his pace, and dropped out of the race.
For her part, Weberg-Titus knew it wasn’t going to be an easy race when she looked up during the 2.4 mile (3.9 km) swimming leg and saw competitors hanging off the rescue surfboards, throwing up into the ocean.
"Mae and I were lucky it didn’t affect us all that much, but the swells were enormous and some competitors who were sensitive to those conditions were getting sea sick," she says. "It was just up and down and up and down, and sometimes you felt you were actually swimming backwards."
Weberg-Titus, a teacher at Pemberton Secondary, finished 16 th out of 38 competitors in the women’s 40 to 44 race with a time of 12:46. She wanted to finish in under 13 hours, and although she struggled in the biking section, she was feeling strong enough to keep on pace.
"I’m lucky I’ve been working on my upper body strength, I really need all of it just to keep my bike on the road," she says. "As it was I was weaving from the shoulder to the yellow line and back again for the whole bike ride."
Throughout the entire race she thought things could always be worse, since the previous year was the worst on record – she didn’t realize until a few days after the race that this year was more difficult than last.
"I honestly kept telling myself that this was bad, but that I was lucky it wasn’t as bad as last year," says Weberg-Titus.
Even two weeks after the event, it’s still sinking in.
"I’m a fairly experienced endurance athlete now, and I don’t usually come back from races blowing my own horn. Now I’m like, ‘right on,’ I came down and raced in the worst conditions ever and finished where I wanted to," she says.
She’s already thinking about next year, where she plans to go faster and be even more competitive.
"Just being there with those people in that beautiful area was enough – the race was just the icing on the cake."
Both Palm and Weberg-Titus found billets in Kona for the race. Palm stayed with a couple that runs a diving tour company who she met while working in the reservations department of Tourism Whistler.
She told them she was running the Penticton Ironman, and they told her if she qualified for Kona to give them a call. When she qualified she was hoping they could help her find a reasonably priced hotel room, and was moved when they invited her to stay. The husband, a dive instructor, even showed her how to tuck her thumb in during the swim portion to get more power.
Weberg-Titus stayed with a competitor from Kona, Hawaii she met at her first Ironman in Penticton back in 1993.
"It was overwhelming the kind of support that exists at this level," she says. "It’s kind of hokey, but something like that makes this big world seem like a smaller, friendlier place."
