Wet and wild world ironman debut for Tom Gibson

INVERLOCH’s Tom Gibson finished a creditable 57th out of 160 competitors from all over the world in the 60-64 age group section of the World Ironman 70.3, half-marathon triathlon, in Lahti Finland on Sunday night.

A valuer, estate agent and director at Alex Scott and Staff, Tom was competing at his first-ever world championship ironman after qualifying to compete for Australia at various lead-up events in the past 12 months.

He came in as the 3rd Australian across the line in the category, a huge effort at his first attempt.

ut the event in Finland has been a personal quest for the past decade or more for Tom.

He completed the 1.93km swim, in beautiful Lake Vesijärvi, in 31:28 minutes, the gruelling 90km bike ride through the "stunning Finnish countryside" in 2:54:57 and made up 15 places in the 21.1km run out to the Teivaa Harbour where the swim was staged, in 1:49:07, a total distance of a tick over 113km in 5:28.01 hours.

Tom was in 9th place out of the water after the swim, his best discipline, but heavy rain throughout the bike leg made it super tough for competitors with Tom aquaplaning and almost sliding out several time in the treacherous conditions.

But he still had some strength left for the run and made up time and placings along the way.

“The swim was great. I was worried about the metre dive into the water and losing my goggles but that was fine, and I absolutely loved it,” said Tom 20 minutes after finishing the race at about 10pm our time on Sunday, August 27.

“But the ride was diabolical. It started raining about 2km-3km in and just got heavier and heavier.

“It was really scary to be honest and quite a few riders went down on the corners. The descents in particular were very touch and go. I was pleased I’d had the time to ride the course three times in the lead up because you couldn’t see at times, but I knew when the corners were coming up at least.

“Just happy to get through it without coming down,” said Tom.

“I’ve been over here for nearly two months training for this, and we haven’t had a wet day the whole time.

“I did some training on the bike in the Pyrenees and following the Tour de France and that really helped me but it’s an area I can certainly work on for sure.

“The legs were alright on the run, a bit tight and I kept telling myself to relax so I wouldn’t cramp but apart from wobbling over the line a bit, I’ve come through well, really happy with the race.”

But would he do it again?

“Yeah definitely. But I’d want to prepare well and do a lot more training next time, particularly on the bike. I wouldn’t try to match Phil (Hanley), though, and do a full ironman, I reckon I’m only half crazy.”

Tom will enjoy a break after meeting up with Alex Scott colleague Greg Price, who was his support crew for the race. The pair will do some travelling in Iceland before coming home.

“As a holiday destination, I couldn’t recommend Lahti in Finland highly enough. It’s stunningly beautiful with a lot to see and do,” said Tom.

Next time his sightseeing might be at a more leisurely pace, however.