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A jubilant Chris McCormack walks down the finish chute to the crowd's adulation.

By now it is well known that Chris McCormack won the 2002 Australian Ironman in Forster. The first Australian to win the race since 1990. Macca won in a time of 8:24 which could have been less if he'd run down the chute but there was no way he was not going to savour such a moment. Oliver Bernhardt finished almost 2 minutes later. In the meantime I was still on the first lap of the run somewhere. I finished my first lap of two on the run course just as Belinda Granger was running in behind me.

Each ironman is different. Not only the day and even the course changes but also the mood each time. I have done three now. This time the mood was dominated by my being the senior one of a group of five where we were staying. There were seven club members competing but unfortunately one of us met with a cycle crash on the Friday before the race and was unable to start due to bad bruising and a broken thumb. Neal was looking at his ninth race at Forster. This incident didn't dominate the mood but added a sense of frailty to it. After this the rookies looked to me for guidance. I was happy to fulfill the role of "guide" as I remember how comforting when I was competing as a rookie and had the benefit of experience of others. The race becomes as natural as taking another step.

Brilliant sunny weather saw quite a few people looking slightly burnt but enjoying the indian summer and making for an enjoyable day. Even our fallen friend probably enjoyed the day too though not from the vantage point he was expecting. Each year there must be many experiencing wishful pangs from the sideline. I guess anyone that has competed here before would have held some of those feelings throughout the day. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Dick Quinn before the race. He had done every race until last year when he had to withdraw and he was not racing this year. He mentioned to that he had a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye, such is the bond. Four new bonds were formed this year that I had a hand in facilitating which was quite a pleasure.

While the weather this year was near perfect it was still quite warm for the run and a little breezy on the bike. The wind was from the south which is probably better than a nor-easter, that way you come back home with a wind on your back along the Lakesway into town. Notwithstanding the good conditions I had a disappointing bike and instead of going faster on the bike than last year I went slower by 20 minutes. I don't know whether it was because I left my legs on a cycling tour that I had ridden on just a fortnight ago or whether my strategy of not setting my watch and not using a speedo worked against me. Anyway after a reasonable swim of just over an hour by 22 seconds the bike leg was a lowlight.

From this point I thought things were going to get a lot worse on the run, but somehow they didn't. In fact things improved and started looking up from a possible 13 hour saga to one that might still dip under 12 hours. As I ran I started to feel better. My strategy as always was to run the whole way but only walk through the aid stations to get all the nutrients I needed. On the second lap however towards the last five kilometres I started to slow again, nevertheless I ran a better run split than last year by three minutes. This hardly made up for my lost time on the bike but saved what could have been a longer slog. I ended up finishing in 12:05:32. While this is not exactly what I had planned but I was happy with it considering some of the inconsistencies in my training this time around. Some lessons have been learned.

On the other hand my clubmates all had good races.Young Pete Jacobs came out of the water in second place heading the likes of John van Wisse and Chris McCormack with a smile that stayed on his face until his finish of 09:33:08, something Mark Fewell couldn't help comment on. Simon had a great race, getting his nutrition right and threw the monkey off his back with a 10:24:35. Tom had a good steady debut of 11:35:59 and Sacha proved what a gutsy young woman she is finishing in 12:47:50 after having only competed in her first half ironman back in November here at Forster to cap off what has been a stellar first year in the sport, which included Australian long course champion for F20-24 age group. Anthony also had a good showing by going sub ten hours in 09:59:03 (just)!

Not everyone met their time objectives but the heat and the changes to the cycle course when factored in played a part. With 200 extra competitors this year something had to be done to break up the packs that would otherwise form on the bike course. This was done by adding hills to bike leg. By adding one hill that meant four extra climbs on a two lap bike course. The climbs were as described - moderate. The run course changed last year which had also become more hilly. One friend who had not competed for a couple of years was a little surprised to find more hills on both the run and bike.

5 km into lap 2 of the run

Glad to be finished for the day.

The awards night as usual happened all too quickly and was over, even after every attempt to make it last as long as possible by attending the "ironman meltdown" party at the Ex-Servicemens Club next door. The Cronulla guys and gals were in fine form getting into another kind of endurance battle and Chris McCormack was holding his own in that department too as well as mingling with everyone. Overall this year's running of the race was the same smooth organisation as in the past and the news that the race will remain here until 2005 bodes well for the future of the race. While there are other places that could just as easily accommodate such a race the location is hard to beat.

Craig Vernon 11th April 2002 photos by Mark Whitby