Two South Australian cops won more than just personal honours when
they finished fifth and sixth in Iron Man Australia last April. In a separate
achievement, Matt Stephens and Matt White became the first two SA triathletes
ever to finish together in the gruelling event’s top 10.
After the 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run, Stephens
crossed the finish line in eight hours, 45 minutes, and White in eight hours,
47 minutes. Their times fell short of the race winner’s by only 19 and 21
minutes, respectively.
And, had 32-year-old Stephens not scored two punctures on the
bike leg, he might well have come home with a top-three finish. He repaired the
first puncture at the 70km mark, but lost five minutes. The second, which he
could not repair, came with 20km still to ride.
“So I just had to ride it on the flat,” he says.
“I would have been, probably, at least 10 minutes faster (without the
punctures), and I was only two minutes behind fourth.
“I imagine I would have ‘got’ him and, then,
second and third were close together and about 10 minutes in front of me.”
Stephens and White competed against world-class triathletes from 20
countries in a total field of 1,600 in Forster, NSW.
For then 25-year-old White, who took part as a tribute to his
closest friend, fellow police officer and triathlete, the late Adam Johnson,
the race was fun but also highly emotional. He rode the bike of his lost mate,
who died of a heart condition last August at the age of just 25.
Extraordinarily, White finished fourth in the bike leg, as had
Johnson in the same race in 1998. “It was just uncanny that we were both
in the same position,” says White. “I didn’t expect to be that
far up with these guys, who are all full-time athletes.
“Every time I’d go through a tough patch, I’d
be thinking: ‘Well, I’m on Johnson’s bike here. He loved this
bike. I can’t let him down on it’.
“I thought of Johnno pretty much the whole time. When I
was running, I was thinking: ‘I wish he could be here to see it’. I
could picture how happy he’d be to see me up with some of the best in the
world.”
Stephens had finished third and sixth in Iron Man Australia in
previous years, and conferred with White before the race. “Matt
hadn’t done it before,” he says, “so I was telling him about the
aspects of this race that are different from others.
“We discussed the opposition a fair bit, too. Not that you can
work as a team, but you would be happy to see each other go well.”
White, up to the 34km mark of the run leg, had held a lead
over his police colleague. But, Stephens – who had managed to make up
ground after his punctures – passed White with 8km to run. With little
breath to spare on words, each simply urged the other to “keep
going”.
So White felt in no way diminished to cross the finish line
behind a friend and colleague. “We were both really pumped,” he says.
“He ran a PB for his run, and I did under nine hours for my first Iron Man
Australia.
“If someone had said to me before the race:
‘I’ll give you sixth place’, I would have taken it, and said:
‘Gee, thanks’.”
As top-ten placegetters, Stephens and White each received a
trophy, finishers’ medal and prize money. White, who won $US1,400, gave
his medal to Johnson’s family. Stephens won $US2,600.
Each officer drew confidence from his race result, and says he
is now primed to undertake other Iron Man races this year. For Stephens, that
includes the world’s ultimate triathlon, Iron Man
Hawaii.
