_
The Israeli Iron Man for 2006 is Shai Pipman of Rehovot
"At the age of 69 Oscar Tuzman decided that what he lacked in life was the Iron Man title. For many years now he has been running long distances, swimming and riding a bike, but he had never participated in the ultimate race that combines all three sports. Last Friday, at 5:45 A.M. he dived into the water of the Red Sea and swam 3.8 kilometers. Then he pedaled 180 kilometers in the Eilat mountains for 10 hours and at 8 P.M. he started out on the last stage of the competition - a marathon race. By then most of the competitors had reached the finish line, or almost, but Tuzman did not give up. He set out with a smile, despite the darkness and the cold, accompanied by a friend in an Eilat police car.
"Almost everyone who knows me said I wouldn't finish," relates Tuzman, "but I said, 'There's a chance. I have to enter this race.' I wanted a little piece of iron, a medal that will prove that I am an Iron Man." At 1:30 A.M., 20 hours after the opening shot, Tuzman reached the finish line near Kibbutz Smadar. He was the last to finish, but he proved that where there is a will, there is a way.
The pensioner from Kiryat Motzkin is not alone. Tal Heller, a widow and mother of two from Petah Tikva; Roni Biram, the owner of the Excellence Nessuah investment house; Dr. Uri Oppenheim, an orthopedist from Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer; Natan Ofan, a retired contractor from Herzliya; and another 135 enthusiasts demonstrated physical and mental fortitude on Friday. All of these people are devotees of the triathlon, one of the most demanding sports that exist. They train for many long hours each week, when other people are sleeping early in the morning or going out in the evening. They suffer nasty accidents and overcome them, and continue to live their lives from competition to competition. Their devotion is almost religious.
"People who have chosen the triathlon have chosen not only a sport, but a way of life," explains Oppenheim, "but contrary to the image, I don't suffer. When I run in the rain, for example, getting wet has no meaning, because on a humid summer day one gets wetter. You just need to realize that and then there's no problem."
Torture and satisfaction
A regular triathlon, which involves swimming 1.5 kilometers, cycling 40 kilometers and running 10 kilometers for dessert, demands effort. But in the Iron Man, competitors approach the limits of human endurance. The competition was first held in Hawaii in 1977 with 13 participants, only 10 of whom reached the finish line. After that it gained momentum and during the past decade, there have been about 20 such competitions each year in various places around the world. Altogether nearly 30,000 men and women of all ages participate. In Israel, this is the third time the competition has been held. In the first competition in Eilat, in 1999, 22 people took part and in the next, which was held a year later, there were already 67 participants.
But it took another six years before people were found to take on the burden of organizing the competition: They were Nir Barak, the director of the Shvoong Internet site, and Haaretz journalist Yossi Melman. The Iron Men and Women then returned to Eilat for a week of physical torture and emotional satisfaction. This time 140 people took part; 35 completed the full course and the rest made do with "only" half the Iron Man route. Each entrant paid NIS 1,000 on average for the right to perspire while climbing up Mount Hezkiyahu.
The Israeli Iron Man for 2006 is Shai Pipman, 32, of Rehovot, who swam, rode and ran a total of 225.8 kilometers in 10 hours and 52 minutes. Had it not been for the strong wind that blew along the route, explained cognoscenti, Pipman would have stopped the clock at a single-digit number of hours.
The Iron Man competition is aimed mainly at people of means. Some of the entrants ride bikes that cost tens of thousands of shekels, and we have not yet said a word about all the ancillary gear. From this point of view, too, Tuzman competed against all the odds. He immigrated here from Latvia in 1973, started to run after the Lebanon War ("I was an operational driver for four and a half months and I was looking for a way to relax from the pressure") and for many years he worked at marble importing company. Today he and his wife enjoy a modest monthly income of NIS 6,500. He came to Eilat by bus. On Saturday afternoon, wearing the sought-after medal, he loaded the bike he had borrowed back on the bus and headed home.
"Next week I'll be running in a race in Ra'anana," he relates, "and in April there is a half-marathon in Jerusalem."
The sport also plays a major role in the life of Natan Ofan. He used to be a big contractor, but "recently business has been slow," as he defines it. He is 66, a resident of Herzliya and the father of four. He started to engage in sport at the age of 45, after he discovered the devastating fact that after a 100-meter run, he felt like he was going to suffocate. Today the situation is completely different.
"I weigh 61 kilos, like I did on the day when I was inducted into the army," reports Ofan. "If I were only able to get a new face transplant, I go back to my childhood entirely." He also participated in the two previous Iron Man races and in hundreds of other competitions. "Although my physical ability is declining, it fills my time," he adds. "Instead of sitting on the boulevard and in cafes or watching television and surfing the Internet, or whatever pensioners do these days, I do something different."
Source: Assaf Carmel. Farther, harder, more painful. Haaretz.com (20 March 2006) [FullText]
"Almost everyone who knows me said I wouldn't finish," relates Tuzman, "but I said, 'There's a chance. I have to enter this race.' I wanted a little piece of iron, a medal that will prove that I am an Iron Man." At 1:30 A.M., 20 hours after the opening shot, Tuzman reached the finish line near Kibbutz Smadar. He was the last to finish, but he proved that where there is a will, there is a way.
The pensioner from Kiryat Motzkin is not alone. Tal Heller, a widow and mother of two from Petah Tikva; Roni Biram, the owner of the Excellence Nessuah investment house; Dr. Uri Oppenheim, an orthopedist from Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer; Natan Ofan, a retired contractor from Herzliya; and another 135 enthusiasts demonstrated physical and mental fortitude on Friday. All of these people are devotees of the triathlon, one of the most demanding sports that exist. They train for many long hours each week, when other people are sleeping early in the morning or going out in the evening. They suffer nasty accidents and overcome them, and continue to live their lives from competition to competition. Their devotion is almost religious.
"People who have chosen the triathlon have chosen not only a sport, but a way of life," explains Oppenheim, "but contrary to the image, I don't suffer. When I run in the rain, for example, getting wet has no meaning, because on a humid summer day one gets wetter. You just need to realize that and then there's no problem."
Torture and satisfaction
A regular triathlon, which involves swimming 1.5 kilometers, cycling 40 kilometers and running 10 kilometers for dessert, demands effort. But in the Iron Man, competitors approach the limits of human endurance. The competition was first held in Hawaii in 1977 with 13 participants, only 10 of whom reached the finish line. After that it gained momentum and during the past decade, there have been about 20 such competitions each year in various places around the world. Altogether nearly 30,000 men and women of all ages participate. In Israel, this is the third time the competition has been held. In the first competition in Eilat, in 1999, 22 people took part and in the next, which was held a year later, there were already 67 participants.
But it took another six years before people were found to take on the burden of organizing the competition: They were Nir Barak, the director of the Shvoong Internet site, and Haaretz journalist Yossi Melman. The Iron Men and Women then returned to Eilat for a week of physical torture and emotional satisfaction. This time 140 people took part; 35 completed the full course and the rest made do with "only" half the Iron Man route. Each entrant paid NIS 1,000 on average for the right to perspire while climbing up Mount Hezkiyahu.
The Israeli Iron Man for 2006 is Shai Pipman, 32, of Rehovot, who swam, rode and ran a total of 225.8 kilometers in 10 hours and 52 minutes. Had it not been for the strong wind that blew along the route, explained cognoscenti, Pipman would have stopped the clock at a single-digit number of hours.
The Iron Man competition is aimed mainly at people of means. Some of the entrants ride bikes that cost tens of thousands of shekels, and we have not yet said a word about all the ancillary gear. From this point of view, too, Tuzman competed against all the odds. He immigrated here from Latvia in 1973, started to run after the Lebanon War ("I was an operational driver for four and a half months and I was looking for a way to relax from the pressure") and for many years he worked at marble importing company. Today he and his wife enjoy a modest monthly income of NIS 6,500. He came to Eilat by bus. On Saturday afternoon, wearing the sought-after medal, he loaded the bike he had borrowed back on the bus and headed home.
"Next week I'll be running in a race in Ra'anana," he relates, "and in April there is a half-marathon in Jerusalem."
The sport also plays a major role in the life of Natan Ofan. He used to be a big contractor, but "recently business has been slow," as he defines it. He is 66, a resident of Herzliya and the father of four. He started to engage in sport at the age of 45, after he discovered the devastating fact that after a 100-meter run, he felt like he was going to suffocate. Today the situation is completely different.
"I weigh 61 kilos, like I did on the day when I was inducted into the army," reports Ofan. "If I were only able to get a new face transplant, I go back to my childhood entirely." He also participated in the two previous Iron Man races and in hundreds of other competitions. "Although my physical ability is declining, it fills my time," he adds. "Instead of sitting on the boulevard and in cafes or watching television and surfing the Internet, or whatever pensioners do these days, I do something different."
Source: Assaf Carmel. Farther, harder, more painful. Haaretz.com (20 March 2006) [FullText]
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home