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Dick and Rick Hoyt
Penticton had hosted an Ironman distance triathlon since 1983, but 1986 provided a major turning point for the event as it would be an official race in the Ironman family and for the first time be the Canadian qualifier for the Ironman World championships.
Others there on that special occasion included Gordon Haller, the winner of the inaugural Hawaiian Ironman event in 1978, colorful character Ken "Cowman" Shirk and six-time World Ironman champion Dave Scott, who presented a training seminar.
The other focus of media attention was on Dick & Rick Hoyt (Richard Jr., who has cerebral palsy), a father and son team from Holland, Mass. who provided us all with a lesson in love. Dick was 48, his son 24. Dick completed the 2.4 miles swim, towing his son in an inflatable dinghy.
Following the swim, his mother Judy and their support team, dried off, fed and strapped Rick in to a racing basket mounted on the front wheel assembly of Dick's bike and then Dick pedaled the hilly 112 mile bike course.
It was dark by the time they exited the transition area for the final stage of the race and Dave Kirk (who, like 2004 winner Tom Evans, led from the swim to the finish line and is still competing and living in Kelowna) and Tracy Bell-Kelly (now living in Penticton) had already claimed the overall men's and women's titles. Dick ran the 26.2 miles hilly marathon course pushing Rick in a racing wheelchair.
It was the first year of a midnight cutoff time of 17 hours, but thank goodness that year there was some leeway. A local radio station followed them and kept the listeners and spectators up to date with their progress and when they turned the final corner spectators were four deep, with more people at the finish line than at any other time during the day. As the race day announcer, I have an adrenaline rush just remembering that very emotional moment and, according to "People" magazine, as they crossed the finish I said, "Isn't that the finest sight you'll ever see in your life? What a man! What a family!"
The stats show that they finished with times of 2:21:14 for the swim, 10:22:54 for the bike and 5:05:51 for the run, with a total time of 17:53:01 - and were still 32 minutes up on the final finisher that day.
However, the facts are that it was the most stirring moment in Ironman Canada and impacted any who were fortunate enough to be witness to this amazing feat of endurance and act of love, courage and determination.
Since then this "team" has raced in the Ironman Hawaii gone across the U.S., competed in many road races, including the Boston Marathon and have run 2:45 for the distance! A feat that four-time Boston and New York marathon winner Bill Rodgers said was, "...a world-class effort and everyone in marathoning is inspired by the Hoyts."
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