Heaviest Ironman Finishers (Page 2)

Amen! I am constantly being passed by athletes who are heavier than me. I have learned never to assume how in shape someone is by how they look on the outside.

Just found this thread. I completed Ironman Canada at 285lbs in 2010. It took me 15:51 but I could have been faster if not for the hail storm we got.

This year I'm probably going to be down to about 260lbs and I'm really excited to see the difference in climbing and running at that weight.

I think bigger athletes may have a slight advantage as we have some "reserves" to draw on during the long race. Like I tell everyone that sees me at the start line. Don't underestimate the big guy

Since this thread is back, I am reading all the posts with interest. I'm still quite heavy, so it's hitting close for me.

I haven't observed an ironman, but I just watched mile 19 at a marathon. Specifically, the Disneyworld marathon. There are many people in the race who did the 1/2 marathon the day before, and are doing the full marathon. You know who they are by the orange Goofy bibs.

I was waiting to see my friend pass by, who was doing his first marathon. He's an average size runner, not a skinny tiny guy, but not close to overweight either.

As I watched the crowd, I saw a lot of people my size. I'm 280. I expected to see lots of "us" in the half, but not so much in the full. What blew me away were the folks doing the Goofy Challenge. I saw one woman who was extremely overweight, steadily walking, with her goofy bib. She may have been walking, but she was still ahead of my friend, a much skinnier runner. And he had no lack of training.

This left me with some DUH observations:

It really is all about the training. I was under-prepared for the half, and it kicked the crap out of me. But even there, I finished ahead of a handful of folks (148 out of 22k) and many of them were not overweight. Training training training.

But the flip side is the reality that smacked me in this first year, something I knew but have stubbornly refused to address for a long time: training is not a magic bullet to weight loss.

I want to do a full IM. I want to do the Goofy race and a half challenge. I want to run an ultra trail run.

I don't want to do them at 280, trained or not. I definitely echo the idea that it's good to get out there NOW, and train NOW, not wait for the weight loss. I was inspired early in my training by meeting a guy my size who had done a HIM. It told me, I can reach now, while I lose weight.

But, there are two caveats, for me anyway: 1, if weight loss is still important to me, I can't ignore it. And 2, there are some events that I can train for while this weight, but we all have limits. For someone else, an IM at 280 is possible. For me, I doubt it. I have a HIM in less than 6 months. If I'm below 250, I'll be feeling awesome. I can imagine doing a HIM 30 pounds lighter than today. I can't imagine IM without at least a 50 pound loss from where I am now. I am downright blown away by my large brethren who get it done at these weights.

I am also a Clydesdale at 6'2" and 220 lbs and did IMAZ in 2010, I wasn't the biggest guy on the course nor near the fastest (even for Clydes).  I had the pleasure of running with a guy for 4 miles that was at race time near 300 lbs, he started his IM journey a year earlier at +425 lbs.  He lost all that weight while training.  This man inspired me, not cause of his weight but because of his heart and determination to do what others can't or won't even try.  Is his size big YES but his ability to take on this and change his life with triathlons is more amazing.  

We all have personal reasons to do this race, it's the size of ones determination, heart and soul that will carry them to the greatness of begin called an IRONMAN.  

HI there people, I completed IMNZ last year and weighed in at 126.9kg - just a tad under 280lb. It was my 5th ever triathlon. I had done 3 sprint distance triathlons and a 70.3 . I completed IMNZ in 15:28:22.

Before I started training for Ironman I was almost 160kg - 352.73lb so yeah I was pretty happy with that.

I've stumbled across this site so I look forward to reading what people are up to training and race wise.

Next race for me is Ironman Yeppoon 70.3 in August and looking forward to getting back into my training.

Peace

So I was at the finish line for 4 hours at CdA last year watching people come in (and signed up for this year!).  What amazed me more than anything is watching these people come across the finish line in 11, 12, 13 hours who by looks alone, you would think closer to the 16, 17 hour mark.  Then towards midnight you would see these athletes who looked as fit as can be struggling to get it done.

That being said, looks can be decieving.  It doesn't matter how you look, it matters how you trained and what you have done to prepare yourself for the day!!!

Go for it!!