Born to Perform (20 page)

“Why is it,” Jonathan puzzled, “that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he'd just spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?”

The following morning the flock has forgotten its insanity and Jonathan's seagull friend Seagull Fletcher enquires: “Jonathan, remember what you said a long time ago about loving the Flock enough to return to it and help it to learn?...I don't understand how you manage to love a mob of birds that has tried to kill you.”

Jonathan replies, “…You don't love hatred and evil…You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That's what I mean by love. It's fun, when you get the knack of it.”
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Mastering something that you are passionate about – now, that is a worthwhile pursuit! No matter what it is that interests you, follow your star and your star only. Believe in yourself, have fun with it and look out on your travels for the Jonathan Livingston Seagulls of this world.

Paula Radcliffe is one of those special people. A few years ago, Keith Wood and his wife Nicola invited Paula and me to their home in Killaloe for dinner. Nicola joked that her claim to fame was leading against Paula in an under-11 race – for the first 200 yards at least! Amid the fun and banter, Keith silenced up for a few moments, leaving us in suspense. Then he quietly said, “Paula, I never thought you'd make it. You were always just losing out. How did you go from being second best to becoming a winner?”

A little gobsmacked by the candid appraisal from this giant of world rugby, Paula reddened, paused to compose herself, and, eyes beaming, said: “Keith, coming from this small village of Killaloe, how did you make it?”

Paula Radcliffe has won World Championship titles at cross country and in the marathon. She has a world marathon record of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds, which is arguably the best and the cleanest world record in women's athletics. Paula knows that the gull that flies highest sees farthest.

On the treatment table of my practice, I work on every sinew of muscle. I also align Paula's back and her neck, mobilise her ankle joints and, most of all, I treat her mind. An elite, highly tuned athlete like Paula Radcliffe knows who trusts her and who believes in her ability. Any weakness in my armour, any lack of confidence and belief in her on my part, she can sense. Of course, small doubts always creep in. Most of these doubts are insecurities, sometimes to do with myself and not in the athlete. Will I serve her well? Have I enough tools in my box to ensure she goes to the starting line healthy in mind, body and spirit?

Paula and I share one thing in common: we are both ultimate perfectionists. We need to tick off the boxes, to ensure that no stone is left unturned in our quest for success. The athlete and physical therapist can sometimes become an amalgam in the quest for perfection, in the pursuit of winning. The pessimists will always fight and argue among themselves, already ringing the doom bell of failure: “No way, no way can Radcliffe win an Olympic medal in 2012 at almost 39 years of age, in her fifth Olympics. She was like a gull with a broken flapping wing in Beijing, running on one leg, and in Athens she broke down at 23 miles with the stadium within sight and a medal within grasp. No way, no way…”

It's not our place to judge and to doubt others. Kelly Holmes was cast aside as finished and costing the British Athletic Association too much money, with no return for their investment. Yet she delivered a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the Sydney Olympics at 30 years of age. She also knew that, given a healthy chance, she could deliver even more. At 34 years of age, winning the 800 metres and 1,500 metres at the Athens Olympics was not only evidence of the power of her self-belief, but was also a slap in the face to those who had doubted her.

Sometimes the pursuit of excellence does not make you popular with others. But if more people believed in the glory that awaits them, if they opened their eyes to see the potential and talents in themselves and to put them to use for self and a greater cause, then the world as a whole could only be a better place. As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so, too, the man of weak mind can make it strong by exercising the right way of thinking, and practising the art of believing in the self and understanding that anything is possible.

People who take their life and talents for granted underachieve. I need no other stimulus to value every day, to respect my life and my health, than when I think of my nine friends who took their own lives. Nine suicides: nine lost lives. I remember, also, my friends and comrades who tragically lost their lives off their road bikes, out doing what they enjoyed best: Tadg Howell, Cork; Joseph Kelly, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary; Joey Hannan, Croom, Co. Limerick; Davy McCaul, Belfast; Tony O'Regan, Limerick; Caroline Kearney, Dublin.

Every single moment of every day is valued more and more when I cannot pick up the phone and speak to the following friends who impacted my life. Their lives were snatched away through illness or sudden death: Fanahan McSweeney, Cork; Ann Kearney, Noel Carroll and Brendan O'Reilly, Dublin; Pat Curley and Tom Staunton, Sligo; Kim McDonald, Teddington, London; Laurent Fignon, Paris; Solomon Ori-Orison, Galway; Christy O'Brien, Tony Purtill, Fr Frank Madden, John O'Donnell, Gerry Ryan and Tim O'Brien, Limerick; Grete Waitz, Oslo, Norway; and Keith Iovine, New Orleans, US.

Of the over 300 Kenyan athletes I have known, the following also died way too young: Richard Chelimo, Luka Kipkoech, Lucas Sang, David Lelei, Sammy Lagat and Paul Kipkoech.

All of these people are with me in my life's work, in my travels and in my prayers, and serve as a reminder that we all come into this world as participators, not spectators.

Tomorrow will bring its own challenges and opportunities. The only way I know is to chase excellence and fly higher to see and achieve more. Every day alive is God's gift. Take it from me – life is precious. Today, everyday, embrace it.

Epilogue

The pursuit of excellence never ends. To reach the top in any endeavour, in sport, in business or in life in general, one must always be willing to learn. Lifelong learning and lifelong striving to do things the best you possibly can ensures that you avoid stagnation, and stay competitive and fresh.

It was Friday, June 18, 2009. I left Limerick at 6.00 a.m. and drove the two hours to Ireland's longest beach at Inch Strand on the Dingle Peninsula. The beach was completely empty – there wasn't a soul in sight except for me and my footprints on the sand. I walked in a pensive mood for almost an hour, readying myself for the task ahead. I was getting my mind focused and into the zone for a challenge of a crazy sort, all on my own. Once again, I was exploring my own physical, mental and suffering capabilities towards the reward of conquering and achieving what I mapped out to do in a far tougher challenge two weeks later.

I geared up and rolled out of sleepy Inch a little after 9.00 a.m., cycling five miles back towards Castlemaine before turning onto a narrow road barely the width of a van. Facing me was a near vertical two-mile climb, which dropped down into the village of Camp and on to Stradbally. After that, the route led to the base of Ireland's highest pass, the Conor Pass, some one hour and twenty minutes into the cycle. I mentally prepared myself for the penance ahead. From the Stradbally side to the top of the Conor Pass is three miles of climbing, a climb that puts most car engines into overheat. From Dingle back up to the top it is four steep miles, and on wet, misty days you cycle in the surreal mist, high up above civilisation.

On this day, I cycled the Conor Pass three times from each side, a total of 21 miles of gut-wrenching and muscle-aching pedalling, and without ever dismounting the bike. I arrived back at a busy Inch beach after cycling for six hours and twenty minutes, packed the bike into my car and drove home. When I came in the door, my wife Diane said, “How was your day?” “Good,” I said. “I had a nice cycle and I'm ready for the Marmotte.”

Always trying to soar high to see farthest, I was going outside my own day-to-day comfortable routine of standing at a physio table, treating flesh and bone. I was going out into the unknown, taking a push bike up into the highest mountains, to try to understand a little more about life and about myself. This is something I can never do when smothered with the hustle and bustle of business, clinic life and taking care of other people's problems and needs. We all need freedom to find our true self.

The Marmotte – or Marmotte L'Équipe Du Grand Trophee Randonneur, to give it its full title – is a beast of an event. It is one of the toughest one-day cycling events on the globe. Some 9,000 cyclists from all over the world take part, real cycling purists – and you need to be as it's a 174-kilometre hell of an event that makes even cycling the Conor Pass six times in one go seem insignificant. Preparation, preparation, preparation has always been my mantra, and the cornerstone of my success in everything I do. The Conor Pass served a purpose. I cycled the Marmotte in the spirit of the Jonathan Livingston Seagulls of this world, pushing my boundaries and enjoying the day's experience into the bargain.

The Marmotte presents the most famous of famous Alpine climbs, used over the years in the Tour de France, which open the chest and make the lungs gasp for oxygen. The first climb of the day, the Col du Glandon, is nine miles of climbing, the second, the Col du Télégraphe is eleven miles, and the third, the famous Col du Galibier, is fourteen miles of climbing; together they make up eight hours of cycling. Then you face one of the most infamous climbs in cycling history – the Alpe d'Huez, a nine-mile climb up 21 hairpin bends to the summit and the finish line of the Marmotte. Awaiting me at the top was a gold medal that I won for the 45–50-year-old category.

To win something is always nice, but the victory I chase at this stage of life is the uniqueness of being healthy and totally alive and appreciating that every day is a gift. I still want to participate in this life and give my best in the pursuit of excellence. In that regard, perhaps I was born to perform, but sport remains my lifelong friend. Sport can save; sport can heal – and that's the lesson for us all. Let sport shape your life.

Triathlon – From Sporting Craze to Ireland's Fastest Growing Sport

By Ian O'Riordan

People who take part in triathlons will tell you they are primarily motivated by health and fitness. But that simply isn't true. For all the cheap thrills at our fingertips these days, most of us lead pretty dull lives, and, bored with our daily routines, set out to find something a little less ordinary.

The golf course might be alright for some, and good luck to them; for others, motivated by fearlessness and a little craziness, it is swimming, cycling and running – and preferably in quick succession. This is what gets the adrenaline pumping for the proper life junkie, and if it helps keep the arteries free of cholesterol then that's a mere side-effect.

When Gerard Hartmann unwittingly and utterly naively walked into this strange and unusual pursuit, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, sometime in the spring of 1981, there was no way he could possibly have imagined it would someday become one of the headline events at the Olympic Games – and a mass participation event, on a massive scale. But then, who could have imagined this?

The truth is, some people still can't make sense of the triathlon: the zipping and stripping of wetsuits – Orca, 2XU, Zoot; the clipping into and dismounting of bicycles – Cervelo, Pinarello, Cannondale; the lightweight flats and half-naked running … No wonder Nike keep coming up with such catchy slogans.

Perhaps the triathlon will only ever make sense to those who have tried it. What is certain is that the triathlon is among the fastest growing sports in the free world, and Ireland is no exception. Gerard Hartmann took his experience from Lake Charles that day and forged not just a new life, but a new lifestyle – and if Ireland now boasts several world-class triathlons, from Kilkee to Tri-Athy to Tri-Athlone, every single one of them owes a little nod to the original of the species, and Hartmann is unquestionably among them.

Ever since making its Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000, triathlon has continued to grow at all levels – from the very elite right on down to the amateur. The Olympic distance – a 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre cycle and 10-kilometre run – has also become the standard, although for most aspiring triathletes there is the standard sprint distance: a .75-kilometre swim, 20-kilometre cycle and 5-kilometre run.

At the elite end, Ireland is now, in the sporting parlance, punching above its weight. In Beijing in 2008, Emma Davis became Ireland's first Olympic representative, and both Gavin Noble, from Enniskillen, and Aileen Morrison, from Derry, are well within the world ranking range to compete in London in 2012. Morrison came late into the sport, having started out as a swimmer, yet, like many triathletes, soon found herself thoroughly addicted.

There were 140 triathlons on the Irish calendar in 2011, and Triathlon Ireland now boasts over 5,500 members and active clubs in every county. Recently it secured its first major sponsorship with a three-year deal with Vodafone. It's estimated that over 16,000 people of all ages, gender and ability participated in a triathlon in 2011. The large growth in female participants, with a 60:40 male-to-female ratio, is perhaps one further reason why all the government health warnings have finally convinced us that, instead of taking up one sport, we should take up three at a time.

Come June 2012, the top 55 ranked international triathletes, men and women, will be nominated for the London Olympics, based on their 14 best results over the previous 2-year period. Ireland's Aileen Morrison and Gavin Noble are poised to make their Olympic debuts.

For more information and all Irish club listings see: www.triathlonireland.com.