Farquhar is ready to test his ‘Limits’ at World Championships

TRI Limits Club chairman Mark Farquhar is eagerly counting down the days until Saturday when he will make his debut at the World Ironman Championships.

While slightly, only very slightly, disappointed that the event isn’t being held on the Hawaiian island of Kona for the first time, but instead at St George, Utah, the Dungannon man is hopeful that the change in venue might suit his style.

The 2.4 mile swim will take place in a reservoir before they tackle the 112 mile cycle, which will see them have to overcome 7,500 feet of climbing – one climb alone is over 18 miles and covers and elevation change of 1,800 feet, the equivalent of cycling up Slieve Donard three times in the space of 20 miles!

After that he has the small matter of a full marathon over 26.2 miles over another testing course that has 1,500 feet of elevation rises and then throw into the mix altitude, temperature ranges between 10 and 35 degrees and winds of up to 40mph and you can see the challenges he faces.

“There’s 1500 ft of climbing on the run course alone, which is hillier than some bike courses!,” he exclaimed.

“It’s a beast of a course, which will probably suit me because I’m a gritty fighter type athlete, I’m not a silky smooth type athlete, and sometimes I need a bit of adversity to get the best out of me.

“It’s not a personal best course, so I’m not going there to smash any times just to go as hard as I can for as long as I can and do as well as I can.

“But St George is also quite high in terms of altitude, I think it’s over 3000ft above sea level and when you get to the top of Snow Canyon the oxygen levels can be quite low, so that can be hard and it will be interesting to see how the body reacts to that.

“And there’s flash winds that can appear, so it’s an absolute beast of a course – I’ve done Ironman Lanzarote five times and Wales but here it can be really extreme, so it’s going to be exciting and I’m looking forward to what could happen on race day!

“But I’m looking forward to the experience and I’m looking forward to it.”

In the build-up to the event, Farquhar has been trying to balance work and family life, as well as his volunteering work, while trying to squeeze in as much training as possible and he admits he’s had to be realistic with his aims.

“Training has been very good with a few hiccups along the road with the stresses of life and work. Working full-time, training and being the chairman of a triathlon club and a dad and numerous other committees, it all takes its toll,” he explained.

“It takes a huge amount of hours. You’re trying to get up to 20-plus hours of training each week, so it’s early mornings, it’s late evenings, it’s a lunchtime swim and even simple things when you need to swim 4K in the pool, you couldn’t get a long enough time slot to do that when the restrictions were in place.

“I think I was beating myself up, thinking I wasn’t training enough, I’m self coached and this is my first trip to the World Championships, so it’s a little bit into the unknown for myself.

“But my wife is my leveler and she told me I couldn’t do more, and at some stage you have to realise you’re not going there to win so you have to be realistic with your goals.

“So I’m going to enjoy it, soak up the atmosphere and rub shoulders with the best in the world and give a good account of myself.”

Farquhar is looking forward to enjoying the entire event with his 12 year old daughter Alexandra competing in the Iron Kids event, while he is keen to experience the parade of athletes and all the other spectacles that surround the World Championships.

“My biggest fear is to go there and don’t soak it up, don’t enjoy the experience of it but I’m determined for that not to happen,” he concluded.