Race Director, Steve Kirby

Double and Triple IRON races occur globally, but only a handful occur in the United States, and one of them is the Lake Anna double and triple IRON competition which takes place in Lake Anna, Virginia.  Most of the other races included in the International Ultra Triathlon Association (IUTA)are mainly held in Europe with the big year end finale in Monterrey Mexico with the Quintuple, Deca and Double Deca Iron triathlons.

I was personally invited by race director, Steve Kirby. He and I had met by phone when a mutual friend of ours, Wayne Kurtz, was competing in the Tampa double IRON in March 2011. I promised I’d drive down to watch the race. I came down both on Saturday and Sunday to watch competitors.

The Triple IRON competition began on Friday October 8, 2011 and the Double IRON athletes began on Sat. October 9, 2011.  All athletes had to swim in the chilly waters of Lake Anna, back and forth on a looped course.   The race course, because of the repetitive loops for all stages of the race is considered one of the most difficult on the IUTA world cup circuit with it’s gradual multiple climbs on the bike and one climb per loop on the run.  And as I witnessed, the course took its toll as one competitor dropped out due to nausea and 2 others, including veteran Kathy Roche-Wallace, slowed to a walk and eventually pulled out.

There is a real familiar atmosphere among the athletes, crews, friends who come from around the world to compete. It wasn’t uncommon to hear a bunch of languages spoken at between that and the competitors’ tents, each baring their country’s flag, the event seemed more like an international carnival.