A huge thanks to Katie Ridley a 'Triathlon Orphan' for this account - it gives us another view of the Ironman journey.Waking up on a sunny Thursday morning I found myself still complaining and moaning about how I really didn’t want to visit Switzerland. From excuses like ‘it’s cold there’ to ‘they all have hairy legs’ I tried my best to make sure my parents knew that I really didn’t want to go.
Arriving at Heathrow airport where we all stayed in a bog standard hotel, we decided to meet and greet and then go out for the last minute ‘English Dinner’. The choices were between a small little pub and an Italian. I’m kind of glad we went to the pub, as funnily enough I was about to have my fill of Pizza in Switzerland.
Boarding the plane on Friday morning, we all met at the hotel and made sure we had our ‘lads holidays’ t-shirt which were printed with ‘IRONMAN ZURICH 2013’.
Now I must say Dad that this was a very nice touch.
We flew with ‘Swiss Air’, which are an airline I’ve never really heard of but there was plenty of legroom on the plane. Us kids had to put up with a lot on those Swiss Air flights, from KP’s dodgy bum to Ritchie’s sweaty armpits. However all that aside I enjoyed the travelling as we got free Swiss Chocolate, followed by a croissant and a free drink! We couldn’t believe it, FREE? However the Swiss certainly made up for it once we had arrived !!!
Now you must remember, we’re in Switzerland because of the Ironman, so we had around six plus bikes in bike boxes and bags, which didn’t want to go with the flow and wanted to stay where they are. To paint a correct picture there were all the adults dragging their bikes with all the children, holding around 4 suitcases each.
It was a disaster. Switzerland then threw another challenge at us - The Double Decker Train!! Our first mission was that we had to pull all of the baggage to the door of this train. Secondly we then had to get the baggage onto the train along with all of ‘the crew’ on. The only way to make this work was with Nic holding the train door open with her rear end whilst trying to drag the children and luggage on too.
Arriving at our hotel was a welcome relief. From the point of view as a stroppy 17 year old I wasn’t looking forward to sharing a room with Dan, Maisie and Grace (however by the end of the trip I actually enjoyed it very much). Our room had the best view, overlooking the lake and giving a picture perfect atmosphere.
After a lot of begging we finally got to go and swim in a Lido on the lake and this was the best experience of the holiday for us kids. Now on the plane Ryan and me had fantasized about a trampoline in a lake – a bit like the one in cheaper by the dozen, and today was our lucky day. This completely made this trip 100X better (yes – we are 18 and 17 and easily pleased) and this had us entertained for hours.
Now I forgot to mention the weather at this time, and unlike my prediction, it was around 35 degrees. This was great news for us kids as it meant the water was so warm in the lake, however it was nerve racking for the Iron people as it was announced to be a NON WETSUIT SWIM. As soon as we found out, I saw the worrying look on my dad and KP’s face as they lost all belief in themselves. But after a lot of prep talk and confidence boosting done by us kids we wished them all good luck and went to sleep for the next day was the iron man.
When we arrived at the Ironman at around 7:30 am the swimmers were already swimming (well fighting really) it looked horrendous. After watching for a while Ryan and myself pushed in front of many Swiss people to get at the front so we could watch people come out the swim. After watching everybody stumble out of the swim I just prayed that my dad was okay. I saw a tall man – he was lanky and had a chest that looked like a carpet of hair walk out of the swim. I screamed ‘GO DAD YES DAD YOU DID IT’ this was followed by ‘ O - YOU’RE NOT MY DAD I’M SO SORRY’ and a strange look from a German man.
After everyone was out of the swim I got the pleasure to watch Daniel, Grace and Maisie do their IRONKID race. This consisted of a vicious swim and a brilliant run (well done kids!!!).
Watching the bike, it was around 38 degrees, which was way to hot for me to even sit in let alone bike in. I admired every single person that started the Ironman and managed to either finish or get 2/3rds of the way through. The worst bit about being a spectator was seeing the horrendous state that grown men and women were in. I’d also like to mention my mum who needs to congratulate herself for what she has achieved and not beat herself up about what she unfortunately didn’t complete. I think with this situation you need to think about how the glass is half full not half empty, and that everybody is behind you and has supported you with the decision you made, and we’re all still so proud of you.
The run on the Ironman was where things became challenging for most people. We had ‘The Zombie’ (Aka KP) who was there in body but scarily not in mind with him being deaf, blind, sick and very very low on energy.
We also had Keith R who kept drunkenly saying ‘I’m going to be an Ironman’ whilst smirking and looking like he’d just been shot. With Chelle who couldn’t even see out her eye, and even Paul “The Terminator” Newell flagging it was not a pretty sight. We had my Dad who decided he wanted to wear his Riverside vest as a crop top (not a pretty sight) causing a stir with some woman called Jenny telling him to carry on!! Now my dad is a very strong runner, but when he stopped and said to me ‘’I’m struggling come and run with me “ it called for drastic action and I mean drastic action. I climbed over the gate and started running with my dad talking to him. Now I only thought I would be there for around 400 meters but he asked me to stay with him and I ran with him the whole way. I ran the last 10k with my dad (furthest I’ve ever run before is 5 k !!!), in my jelly sandals, making sure that he consumed all the sugar possible as I thought he was about to pass out. Maisie was a star and ran with her Dad too and Grace with Chelle. I know all appreciated our help and all finished! With around 300m to go my Dad said that he didn’t think I would able to run in with him down the finishing shoot so I stopped, not knowing that my little brother Dan the glory hunter was waiting at the finishing shoot to run in with him. TYPICAL!!!!
For all people out there that think they know what an Ironman is you will never know until you’re in all of these amazing peoples shoes. An Ironman isn’t just a physical challenge, you could train for years, but you have to be mentally prepared for it. To me, all these people aren’t just Ironmen and women, they’re so much more than that, and I know all of us kids look up to and aspire to be like them, and it’s safe to say I enjoyed my holiday.
A massive massive thank you also to Nic who was my surrogate Mum for the weekend and made sure we all got to Switzerland with bikes and had a great hotel to stay in. You are a STAR x x
Once again well done everyone, especially my Mum !!!!
Katie