Ironman Warner, 70, off on Hawaiian 'vacation'

Oct 5, 2010

The following article is re-printed from http://www.insidehalton.com/sports/article/880244--ironman-warner-70-off-on-hawaiian-vacation

You won't find local resident Courtney Warner complaining about this summer's hotter-than-average weather.

And to hear him talk about his preparations and training for the Oct. 9 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, one would think the 70-year-old had made a special request for the steamy conditions he'll likely face during the two-mile swim, 110-mile bike ride and the full 26.2-mile marathon run that traverses a lava desert.

"The good news is that with the hot weather we've been enjoying, I've been doing all of my training during the day in the heat and humidity, and we're going to go to Hawaii two weeks ahead of time to acclimatize to the conditions," said Warner, who has completed eight Ironmans and been a spectator at the Hawaii event, but will now tackle what's considered the sport's toughest challenge.

"Getting used to the heat and humidity is important, but people who I've spoken to who have done it before say that it's usually really windy out there as well. I'll have to drink a lot more in Hawaii, whereas I normally take in a bottle of fluid every hour. I'll have to double that for sure because hydration will be more important than nutrition."

Warner, who recently retired from a sales director's job with a Mississauga firm, has been ramping up the intensity of his training and competed in another Ironman in June in Idaho with his friends from the Milton Runners, finishing the punishing course in a time of 16 hours, 14 minutes.

As the only person in the 70-74 age group to complete the race, Warner earned the lone qualifying berth for the Hawaii Ironman after several previous attempts and will bring a boisterous cheering section along with him, including wife Anita, their married sons and four grandchildren.

"I've had what I guess you'd call a dream of doing the Hawaii race for 10 years and have come close to a spot before with seconds and thirds, but never came first in my age group, which is why I said that when I did get there, we'd take the whole family."

Anita and Courtney ran in marathons during the 1970s and '80s before the latter and his fellow youth soccer coach Bertram Hack thought they'd attempt the Milton Triathlon in 1986.

"We both finished it. Bert said 'never again' and he was good to his word. But for some reason I carried on," said Warner. "I've had a lot of enjoyment from it over the years and it's become a lifestyle. It keeps me in good shape, which I feel helped me to continue to work until the age of 70."

After his Milton debut, Warner competed in Olympic- and Half-Ironman- distance races in Ontario for a few years and then signed up for his first Ironman event in Penticton, B.C. in 1995. During a descent in the bike segment in the Yellow Lake area, he crashed and broke his collarbone, sustaining some nasty road rash as well, but decided almost immediately that he'd register for the '96 race and has since finished eight Ironmans - one every second year - without serious injury.

That's not to say Warner has breezed through his Ironman experiences. In 2008, with the entire family in tow, he took part in the Lake Placid, N.Y. race, which was run in a driving rainstorm.

"When I came out of the swim, I was changing into my shoes and there was sand all over my feet and I said to myself, 'I really don't need to do this,'" he recalled.

"But I had all of my grandkids waiting for me along the route and it hit me that I couldn't quit. What will they think of a granddad who quits when things get tough? I think there was at least four times with the torrential rain coming down that I thought about quitting, and each time I remembered my grandkids and kept on going."

He says, however, that Hawaii will be his last Ironman attempt due to the huge time commitment required for training, although he'll likely continue to enter shorter-distance events.

"We want to travel around the world- and not just to races- but to travel as tourists," quipped Anita.