Eastern exercise club staging community Ironman challenge

By JOHN McCALLUM

Editor

Ever wanted to do an Ironman Triathlon, but didn’t want to do the distances? Or all of the events?

OK, that’s not doing the triathlon, but thanks to Eastern Washington University’s Exercise Science Club, West Plains residents now have a chance to compete in the Ironman events and distances, but at their own, sweet pace.

The club is staging the second annual Eagle Ironman Challenge, a competition where individuals swim 2.4 miles, bicycle 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles – Ironman distances and events – but take up to three weeks to complete the task. And it’s not just individuals, but teams of individuals and families as well are welcome to take up the challenge, Exercise Science Club representative Matt Silvers said.

EWU staged the event last year on campus, putting things together in less than a week. Even with such short notice, Silvers said they had 100 competitors swimming, biking and running. This year, they are taking it to the community and hope to have 300-400 participate.

The goal is essentially a three-parter, Silvers said: Get inactive people active, get active people introduced to new activities, and get more people involved. What’s unique about the Eagle Ironman Challenge is that family teams can also compete, and people can take specific events themselves, divvy up event mileage between team members or do all three in daily or weekly increments.

“The unique aspect (of the Eagle Challenge) is you can break it up into manageable chunks,” Silvers said.

The Eagle Ironman Challenge runs May 3-22. Registration opened last Monday, April 13, and runs through May 3 at a cost of only $10 per person, which provides people with an event T-shirt. From May 3-8, registration is $15 per person, with registration closing after May 8.

People wishing to compete in the challenge can do so at the EWU Bookstore, or go online to http://www.eagleironmanchallenge.com. Silvers strongly urges people to register online because there are many helpful tools there, and the website will be updated weekly over the competition to provide highlights, and competitor success stories.

“The primary mission is to use a fun, competitive and inclusive event to encourage people on campus and in the community to be more physically active, especially families,” Silvers said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected]