"Silly" endurance all-rounder Scott Bennett completes first Ironman Triathlon
Monash student Scott
Bennett has completed his first Ironman Triathlon in spectacular fashion,
finishing third in his age division in the 2019 Ironman Australia at Port
Macquarie on May 5.
Scott described his
decision to compete in the gruelling endurance event, which involves a 3.9km
swim in the river, a 180km bike ride along the coast, and finally a 42.2km run,
as a bit “silly”.
“I decided a few
months ago that doing an Ironman would be a cool challenge, but little did I
know what it entailed,” he said.
“Studying a full
time degree, working, as well as trying to fit in the endless hours of training
was so difficult, not to mention all the food I had to eat. One breakfast I ate
20 Weetbix!”
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Scott took just 2 minutes and 38 seconds to transition
from the run to the ride section of the race.
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Managing food intake
appears to have been a surprising challenge for Engineering and Science student, who described
the event as a “massive learning experience”.
“I was quite
oblivious on how to fuel myself over long distance. Things like making sure I
was eating the right amount of food, taking in enough salt and water to stop
cramping and figuring out what I could and couldn’t keep down while exercising,”
Scott said.
Food aside, nothing
could stop Scott from dominating at the oldest Ironman event in Australia, which
is also a qualifying race for the World Championships in Hawaii. He credits the
2000 volunteers, thousands of supporters and 1500 competitors with creating a “huge
energy” at the event.
“The whole race
experience was amazing,” he said.
“I came out of the
water much faster than I expected. From there, the hardest thing for me was
staying mentally positive through the race, even though I was feeling really
sick.”
After the swim,
which he completed in one hour and 11 minutes, Scott was placed 11th
in the 18-24 age division. But by the end of end of the cycling component,
Scott had jumped up the rankings to third place.
“In the ride, some
kid shouted at me that I was coming third in my age group. From that point I
realised I didn’t want to just finish, I wanted to do well,” Scott said.
“This gave me the
motivation to keep going strong, and get another element out of the race. No
stopping for anything.”
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During the ride and run, Scott overtook 537
competitors to rise to an overall rank of 256th.
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He managed to hang
on to this position, not only making it to the finish line, but placing third
in his age division, a remarkable achievement for the 19 year old in his first
attempt at an Ironman.
Scott finished the
race with an overall time of 11 hours and 6 minutes, and his split times for
the cycling and run sections were 5:52:46 and 3:54:12 respectively. Imagine
running a marathon at a 5:33/km pace having already cycled and swum for the
past 7 hours!
Scott said in the
end “it was all worth it”.
“In the final part
of the run there was an amazing sense of camaraderie, and the pinnacle of the
race was running down the red carpet, and being told I came 3rd and for it all
to be finally over,” he said.
“Even though I swore
during the race that I'd never do this again, a few days later I can’t wait to
do another one.”
Well done Scott, we’d
say you have probably fulfilled the exercise quota for all of Monash for the
rest of the year!
Written by Nell O'Shea Carre, Media Coordinator.
