Ful-On Tri - Race Reports (Blogs)

"Your Ironman charisma is not complete without doing this race" - Paula Newby-Fraser after the 1997 race. With a billing such as this, you clearly would not be of sound mind to enter such an event, therefore it probably came as no surprise that Dan Mertens and myself (Tongy) entered this event without hesitation at the end of the 2005 season. After putting our name on the start list we received many and varied comments ranging from pro-triathletes questioning why would you want to do that race, to comments from amateurs such as Hanley, just having a big smirk on his face and probably laughing very deeply at us. Race week arrives and out we ventured to Lanzarote. Just being on the island and experiencing the wind, hills, heat (and did I mention wind?) was enough to convince us that this is clearly not a well thought out plan!

On Saturday our day started as we approached transition in the wee hours just after 5am. We crossed paths with the revellers as their day was ending and they staggered from the bars...