When Waimea’s John Simmerman heard his named called during the Big Island age-group Ford Ironman World Championship lottery, he felt a rush of joy.
Simmerman has failed to qualify for the world championship several times, with his first attempt being at Ironman Canada in 1996. Sixteen years later, he has finally achieved his goal.
“It’s like I told (Ironman world championship event director Diana Bertsch), be careful what you wish for,” Simmerman said. “I am the assistant director for the aid station during Ironman, and I see what people put their bodies through.”
Simmerman was one of 24 competitors awarded a spot in the Oct. 13 race, which will take place on the Big Island.
Originally, 50 athletes had registered for the lottery, but attrition took 11 off the board. So, only 39 were left in the drawing for 24 spots. The winners were announced Saturday at Bike Works.
“We don’t have the drawing on site,” Bertsch told the group right before the winners were announced. “We send the list to the corporate office, and they have a group of accountants who select the names.”
Various volunteers and Ironman officers announced the names one at a time.
For Simmerman, it was the moment he had longed to experience.
Simmerman works with Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii, a nonprofit group that aims to make Hawaii Island safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. He left the mainland for Oahu because of a job in 2005, and then he moved to the Big Island six years ago.
He always stayed involved with Ironman, vowing he would either race or volunteer in the Ironman world championship.
“I’m an exercise physiologist by trade,” Simmerman said. “With my involvement with PATH, Ironman makes sense, especially with the way obesity and sedentary hobbies are front-page news now.”
For Kailua-Kona’s Chris Chang, the wait was not as long, but it felt like a long wait on Saturday. The 19-year-old participated in his first Ironman drawing after completing his second Ironman 70.3 Hawaii a week ago. He withdrew his name from the 2011 drawing.
Chang’s name was one of the final names called.
“I didn’t think I was going to get called,” he said. “The spots were getting fewer.”
As Simmerman was, Chang was a volunteer for the Ironman world championship. Chang went to high school at Kamehameha-Oahu, but he always came back to his home for Ironman weekend. He volunteered at the swim-to-bike transition.
“I would see how the people came into the area,” he said. “Sometimes, I would see the people stumble up there.”
His experience watching the difficulties some athletes had didn’t make him nervous, but he does realize what a challenge the race is. He also knows how the weather can affect the race.
A week ago on the Kohala Coast, he had a slower time at 70.3 Hawaii than he did a year earlier.
“The wind caused me trouble, more on my run than on the bike,” he said.
The conditions and terrain are factors every competitor must take into account, Simmerman said.
“This is the perfect place for the World Championships,” Simmerman said. “This is the most difficult place to compete in an Ironman.”
c Notes: Of the 24 athletes awarded spots in the Ironman World Championships, eight participated in the 2011 event. Among those are Mark and Sylvia Ravaglia, a married couple living in Waimea.