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We show up at the transition area on Saturday morning to get everything set up. This is when real doubts start creeping into my mind. It seems that most of the other athletes had crews of several people and well stocked tables full of everything you could think of for a race. My crew consisted of my wife and a small cooler. For you that know Cynthia, you know at least I had a crew with as much energy as 3 normal people.

We drove up the river to the start. The roads were very narrow. Remember the big truck we were driving, Cynthia decided that she did not think she could drive back to the transition area. I had to inform her that she was on her own for that. I had to concentrate on the little 281.2 miles before me.

The race started with each athlete asigned their own Kayak to crew for them in the swim. The river was very intimidating. I had swam in rivers around bardges, but here there were actual cruise ships. We swam near an oil tanker that was docked. Although I was not all that close to it I remember not being able to see the top of the ship when I turned my head to breath. The current in the river was kind of crazy. I would be making good time and then I would be swimming in the same place for a time. All in all it was a good swim and I came out of the water in second place by about 10 minutes.

When I exited the water I could hardley walk. It took a few minutes to get my legs back under me. Happily, I saw that Cynthia had survived the drive back to the transition area, and had even found a double cheeseburger for me on the trip. I ate the burger drank something and mounted up for the ride.

The bike was what I had been waiting for. Things were going just as planned. I took the lead after a few hours. I was riding well. There were only 2 people on the course riding faster. The first was a member of a relay team. I do not know his name, but this guy was a freak. It seemed like every time I looked he was lapping me again. I was certainly glad he was not doing the entire thing. The other person who was riding faster in the begining was a guy from England, Arthur Puckrin. While it is not unusual for someone to be riding faster than I Arthur was 65 years old at the time. He is now 69 and has not slowed down much at all.

As the ride progressed I had a few questions. The first one being if I have to get off my bike every so often to go to the bathroom, why is nobody else getting off their bikes? As gross as the answer to that is, it really does save time. The second question was, why am I doing this again? I had not done much night riding so things got a little interesting after the sun went down. I had no real problems, but I kept hitting the same pot hole every lap. I increased the lead I had pretty well. I think as I mentioned that doing well on the bike was unexpected on me. By the time people realized I was a threat the lead was already fairly wide.

When I dismounted the bike I was ready to go. Running well along a beautiful river, and in the lead as a bonus. Life was good. Well it was good for a while. About half way through things started sucking really bad, but I just kept moving forward. The memerable things about the run were the people. A Swiss doctor, Beat, was doing the race. Cynthia ran portions of the race with me. Each time we would see Beat she would offer words of encouragement. His response was always the same "hi". We just assumed he did not know english. This went on over and over us cheering and Beat saying hi. With just a few hours left in the race we once again see Beat and offer words of encouragement. As a change of pace he responded is good english "my ass hole hurts". That may not seem real funny now, but at the time I almost fell over. Since that race I have learned that Beat not only speaks 6 languages well, he never is a lack for something to say in any of them. The next memorable thing was a girl for Puerto Rico. She was sponsored by Hawian Tropic. I only had a few more miles to go when she told me it looked like we would get to split the prize money as the winning male and female athlete. The great thing about that was that until that very moment I did not know there was any prize money. In the end I walked away with $750 Canadian. Not enough to cover the trip, but every little bit helps. A single iron was also put on during the weekend. We had met the person who ended up winning. With just 4 miles left to go he showed up to cheer me in to the finish. He brought his wife and dog with him. I stopped to say hi and to pet the dog. I finished the race in 24 hours and 7 seconds. I tell people I would have gone under 24 if not for that dog.

It was a great experience. All the local media were at the finish line. It is never a real good idea for me to speak to people after 24 hours of exercise with no sleep. At my best I don't look good or speak well. The best quote in the paper the next day was when I was asked what I was going to do next and I said I was not sure, but it would involve a steak and a beer.

I came home with a title, Champion of the Americas, many great memories and most importantly many new friends from around the world.