Would you like to be an ‘Iron Man’? Well, all you have to do is to swim 2.4 miles, follow this immediately with a bike ride of 112 miles and then run a full marathon of 26.2 miles! In Austria on 16th July of this year, Bro Ivor Spencer of the Castle Lodge No.1436, did just that.

It all started when he went for a medical check-up and was told that, like many middle-aged men, he had high blood pressure, rising cholesterol and should exercise more! Shortly afterwards, while watching his son at the Folkestone Swimming Club, he saw several lanes occupied by elderly people, who were described by one of the attendants as ‘Master Swimmers’. He was impressed by this until he found that the title only meant that they were over 25 years of age. But he took up swimming twice a week at Folkestone and then moved over to the Hythe Pool and stepped up his attendance to three times a week.

It was about a year later when it was suggested to him that he should take part in the Duke of York School’s fun triathlon which they called the ‘quick change tri’. He decided to take part but he had just three weeks to get out his old bicycle, pump up the tyres and start doing some running. He enjoyed the challenge so much that he bought a racing cycle and started training three times a week in all three disciplines. His first Olympic distance triathlon in 2005 involved swimming one mile which was followed by a 25 mile cycle ride and a five mile run around Windsor Castle and Eton School. He put in a time of 2 hours, 34 minutes and 40 seconds which encouraged him to set himself the challenge to break 2 hours 30 minutes which he did. His time this year for the same event was 2 hours 29 minutes. At a dinner party in September of that year, the chat turned to fund-raising for the MS Centre in Canterbury which required substantial building work to house the hyperbaric oxygen chambers which bring so much relief to MS sufferers. It was suggested that he run a sponsored marathon but he said that everybody was doing that these days and he doubted whether he could get enough sponsors to make it worth while. After a few glasses of wine - and in what he has since described as ‘a moment of madness’ - he said he should need to do an ‘iron man’ to get people interested in sponsoring him.

The truth was that he had never swum more then 3000m, never cycled more than 55 miles and never run more than 10 miles and certainly not on the same day but, having selected the race in Austria and engaged a coach, he started to realise just how much he had bitten off; the training was relentless - 6 days a week in rain, hail and snow. On the evening before the triathlon, Ivor and his wife Stephanie were dining at a restaurant and they chatted with a Canadian at the next table about their home town of Folkestone. The Canadian mentioned that he was also associated with the Triathlon Association and he knew a Paul Groves who came from the Deal area. Paul was a Past Master of the Granville Mark Lodge No.390. Ivor will never forget the time before the start when, like men going off to war, a quiet determination was all around, wives and girlfriends standing close to their men, lingering goodbye kisses, helping them on with their wet suits and greasing chaff points, final embraces then turning and marching off to an uncertain but very long hard day. There were some 2,500 competitors in the race from 43 nations and each was introduced as he enters the water for the swim. When it came to Ivor’s turn to walk through the archway to activate the timing chip, the Canadian he had met the night before roared: “This is Ivor Spencer from Folkestone, England, and this message has been received from England - ‘Fraternal Greetings from the Brethren of Granville Lodge, Deal, UK!”

The announcer then added: “Ivor, remember Faith, Hope and Charity.” That very same greeting was echoed at every point in the race and again when Ivor finished the course. This was just the boost he needed before the start. A cannon started the 2,500 athletes into a 2.4 mile swim. They looked just like a pool of piranhas in a feeding frenzy - 10,000 arms and legs beating inches away from each other.

Just over an hour later, it was out of the lake unscathed and running towards his bike whilst removing the wet suit. Seconds later he had his bike shoes on and he launched himself into the saddle for 112 miles of pain, which started in the lungs, then spread to the legs and, after a couple of hours, the saddle started to feel more and more like a saw blade At this point, looking up, competitors see only the mountain that they are about to climb, consoling themselves with the thought that what goes up must come down. At the top, the sore knees got a rest as the descent was at 40mph. When two cyclists collided next to him, his stomach turned at the sound of skin and bone sliding down the tarmac.

At 56 miles, he waved to his wife before starting the second lap which was much harder than the first. He finished the cycle ride 6 hours 20 minutes later but the relief was nulled by the thought of the run to come. He jumped off his bike, threw it to helpers with his shoes still attached to it, grabbed his running shoes, slipped them on and just ran, ran and ran for 26.2 miles! By this time, his body was telling him it had had enough and that, if he didn’t stop soon, it would self-destruct. At the same time, his mind was saying: ‘Just let me finish.’ There were bodies everywhere vomiting, shivering and waiting for ambulances. He pulled his hat down over his eyes and just kept repeating “one foot in front of the other, don’t stop or you won’t start again”. At about 23 miles, he hit ‘the wall’ as they call it. It was a first for him and not a pleasant experience. He described it as going into slow motion and trying to run through treacle. But the crowd kept shouting “Evor, Evor. Supa, Supa”. This was enough to get him to the end where he received a smile and cheer from his wife and a nice soft stretcher with a nurse and masseur for a couple of hours’ recuperation before staggering assisted and shivering badly to bed and blissful sleep.

He was supported every step of the way by his wife, Stephanie, who fed and watered him at all the stopping points. Sadly, Stephanie suffers from multiple sclerosis and Ivor was raising money towards a special therapy unit at Canterbury. The final figure reached £3,000 which included a donation from the Castle Lodge at Sandgate. But we have a real Iron Man in our midst, for once was just not enough for our Ivor! Believe it or not, he has just started training for next year’s event which will be in Nice, France, on 16th June with a 28k climb in the bike section considered to be the hardest Iron Man triathlon in the world. The Iron Man event ravages the body to the point where it can take 3 months to fully recover but the achievement stays with you for life.

Ivor finished in 1,286th place and his time for the event was 12 hours, 16 minutes and 50 seconds which earned him the honour of being known in the Triathlon world as an ‘Iron Man’. Ivor says that the Canterbury MS Therapy Centre still urgently needs support on their re-building project and he would be much obliged if any brother could help him in this cause. Cheques payable to the Centre (and messages of goodwill) may be sent to him at 2 Badgers Bridge, Etchinghill, Kent, CT18 8NR.

WBro Robert H Nott PSGD
Castle Lodge No.1436

Ed45, p4