Councilman Richard Bailey trains for the IRONMAN at the La Jolla Cove
While some speculate about City Councilman Richard Bailey’s next political move the leading theories include a run for mayor or for a second term of the city council — right now, he’s focused on another type of contest entirely.
This weekend he travels to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to compete in an IRONMAN competition on June 28. Called by many the toughest one-day event in sports the IRONMAN event calls for competitors swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and run for 26.2 miles — a full marathon.
For many, any discussion of an IRONMAN event calls to mind images of Julie Moss’s famed 1982 finish. Moss, fatigued and dehydrated, fell just yards from the finish line and literally crawled across it even though she had no chance of winning. Her dedication gave way to the IRONMAN ethos, “finishing is victory.”
That Bailey has taken up this type challenge doesn’t come as a surprise to people who watched his tireless quest to join the Coronado City Council three years ago. The then-26 year-old literally walked every block of the city, going door-to-door, introducing himself. He’s bringing that same dedication and focus to his IRONMAN quest. He trains 20 hours a week, focusing on each event on different days, and has modified his diet by limiting himself to lean meat and fresh fruit. “I’ve always eaten pretty clean, but now I’m eating even cleaner,” he said.
He also joined the San Diego Triathlon Club where he gets advice and encouragement. “I have a number of friends, mentors, people I look up to there, who are helping me get ready,” he said.
Bailey is not new to the sport. He was a member of a triathlon club while enrolled at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. After graduating, he continued to run and cycle. He even participated in a few marathons, but it’s been some 12 years since he actually competed in a triathlon-style event. Once he began training he quickly realized that he’s had to “shake out a few cobwebs,” especially when it came to swimming. “I hadn’t been in a pool in years,” he said.
Training has not been without its perils. Two months ago, Bailey pulled a calf muscle that continues to nag — although not deter — him.
“You invest a lot of time and money, so unless you’re dead, you’re going to compete,” Bailey said. At worst, the pulled muscle will slow his time in the marathon, which has always been his best event. Now he expects it to be cycling. Swimming remains his biggest challenge.
The aquatic leg at Lake Coeur d’Alene, where the water averages 62 degrees, is tough even for experienced swimmers. “I’m definitely wearing a wet suit,” he said.
Of course, the cycling leg isn’t something most would term easy, either. The ride will take him through rural northern Idaho along an undulating path that rises has high as 3,400 feet.
He chose Coeur d’Alene because it’s the only one of 11-sanctioned IRONMAN competitions held around the United States that fit into his schedule this year. It is also known as one of the sport’s most challenging and beautiful venues. So far, 2,000 competitors have registered for this year’s competition, according to race officials.
Competing in a sanctioned race is important to Bailey, because someday he wants to do well enough to qualify for the World IRONMAN Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
“It’s been on my bucket list since I was 16,” he said.
He does have a chance, albeit a slim one, to qualify at Coeur d’Alene this year. Normally, the top 50 finishers earn a slot at the world championship, but if some of these have already qualified in another competition, people below move up. That leaves some room for people who fall below the top-50 threshold, but Bailey doesn’t expect to be among them.
“The only way I’ll qualify is if a natural disaster wipes out everyone ahead of me,” he said.
As far as Bailey knows he will be the only competitor from Coronado, which holds its own annual triathlon, the Super Frog, in September. Bailey has never competed in it, but hopes to do so in 2016, when the race becomes a sanctioned IRONMAN event, giving him another shot at qualifying for Hawaii, where the IRONMAN competition originated in 1978 when Navy CDR John Collins and a few of his fellow Navy buddies decided to prove whether running, cycling or swimming were tougher by holding the three existing long-distance competitions in one day: the 2.4 mile Waikiki Rough Water Swim, the 115 mile Around Oahu Bike Race and the Honolulu Marathon. Legend has it that at the beginning of the competition Collins said: “who ever finishes first, we’ll call him the ironman.” The name stuck.
Bailey could have taken an easier path by participating in less arduous events. There are number of triathlons that only require a half marathon or take place on less challenging terrains; many competitors work their way up to the tougher full length IRONMAN events, but that’s not Bailey’s style. He’s a “go big or go home” kind of athlete — so he’s going big all the way to Coeur d’Alene.
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
