Congratulations Kat Ahlers & Joanna Choy-Arizona Ironman!

By Steve Hyde

I want to share a truly athletic accomplishment that has been a while in the making. Last year Kat Ahlers and her mom Joanna Choy decided that they wanted to take on an iron man distance triathlon. Many of these events sell out within minutes of going online. Being aware of this they volunteered at last year's Arizona Ironman knowing that doing so assured them priority registration. This was a huge leap of faith since neither of them had ever done even a half Iron man. Kat had never run a marathon and neither of them had put in 112 miles on a bike. While Joanna has some 50 mile runs to her credit she was more than a little  bit leery of making the swim cut off time of two hours and twenty minutes.

A whole heck of a lot of training later and after completing a confidence building though challenging (Joanna suffered flats-Kat face planted at the finish) half ironman at Oceanside they felt ready.  Joanna was still uneasy about the swim cutoff and redoubled her swimming efforts. In addition to swim team workouts she occasionally would go the the pool for two hour swims during lap swim times.

It all paid off! Joanna completed the race in fifteen hours and thirty-two minutes. Kat finished in fourteen hours and forty minutes. This is a true story of how planning and persistence can lead to the experience of a lifetime. They will be back at the pool next week. Please  feel free to congratulate them on this job truly well done!