Flying Farquhar achieves his World Championship ‘dream’

TRI Limits Triathlon Club chairman Mark Farquhar received a belated Christmas present on Friday of last week when confirmation arrived that he had qualified for the Ironman World Championships in May.

The Dungannon man competed at Ironman Portugal at the end of October hoping to complete the gruelling event quickly enough to earn one of the five spots in the 40-45 years age group for the World’s which for the first time ever will take place away from the Kona, at St George, Utah, this year.

After completing the race in 10 hours and 23.18 minutes, Farquhar knew he hadn’t earned an age group podium spot on the day, but because some athletes opted not to compete in the swim – which they were permitted to do because of Covid – and were granted a nominal time, it took the organisers some time to sort out the final standings to work out who had earned a qualification place.

And after a torturous two and a bit month wait, the confirmation email arrived on Friday to say the local father of two had achieved his dream of sealing a place at the Ironman World Championships.

While a little bit disappointed that he won’t be competing on Kona itself, Farquhar admits that leaves ‘a carrot’ for him to chase.

“The fact it’s not in Kona gives me a carrot for the future, I’ll have to do it again!,” he joked.

“Listen, Kona, Hawaii is the dream and you think to yourself that you’d love to get there and then you qualify and that’s the first year it’s not in Hawaii.

“It’s a dream to qualify for the World Championships, it’s not just about the location and it’s still the same people you’re racing against, the best in the world.

“I’m super excited to have qualified. For anyone that knows, this has been a dream for a number of years.

“Dreams like this could never happen without amazing people around you. My wife Alison Farquhar and two amazing kids Lewis and Alex beside me every inch of the way, my family, friends, Tri Limits Triathlon Club and my coached athletes at TriSMART Coaching who inspire me everyday.

“Not forgetting where this journey started after the inspiration of Keith Clarke and Bob Davison completing their Decaman almost 10 years ago.”

Fortunately for Mark, the event’s move from Kona to Utah might actually suit him because St George won’t be just as warm – approximately 22 to 25 degrees. And after suffering 30 degrees during the run leg – a 26.6 miles marathon – during Ironman Portugal in Cascais, that’s not something he’s too disappointed about.

However, having never raced there before, he knows he will be in for a fresh test, just like he was in Portugal which was the first Ironman race held there.

“Going to Portugal was the unknown,” acknowledged Mark, who had cycled the course on an App before travelling to Cascais.

He continued: “You can ride that as much as you want, but you don’t get the heat, you don’t get the wind, you don’t get any of that.”

Not that he’s particularly concerned about any of that at present, instead he’s focused on training and getting ready for the World Championships, which isn’t proving difficult to motivate himself for.

“I have four months and I know I’ll wake up every morning motivated,” added Farquhar, who’s as keen to succeed as he is to ‘enjoy the experience’.

“I went to the club swim on Friday evening with the news in my head and I set some PB swim times. I got up on Saturday morning and I did a 12 mile run and I did it nine minutes quicker than I did it last Saturday morning with no effort. Saturday was a horrible morning but I skipped around it!

“That’s because I’ve qualified for the World Championships and I know I have to step it up a gear, I need to take my training to the next level and as much as it’s still another race, I need to go and enjoy the experience.

“You have to take it in. I think we’re always rushing about in life too much and we don’t pause to see where we’re at, to see what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved. We can all be too quick to move on to the next thing rather than enjoying it and taking it in.”