Marius van der Pol

I am a 27 year old who loves the outdoors and loves to push his body to the limit. I am competing in the Rotorua Half Ironman in December to raise funds for spinal cord injury research for those affected by conflict.   

This race is for a special breed. An event for triathletes of widely ranging abilities who all share the same common goal. To get to their finish line. To race on New Zealand's best course. To accept a real challenge and to stare down and defeat their demons. To SUFFER. To support each other. To just get home.

A 2km swim in the famed Blue Lake starts the challenge. Then 90kms - on a bike. From gentle climb through screaming downhill sections, with flats and the ride up Tikitere to put the burn into the legs. To finish it's a 21km run around the Green Lake course.  The run goes in a clockwise direction around Tikitapu and at the top of the lake is the lookout. While other races would most probably bypass this tiny detour, this race doesn't. You see, the lookout symbolises everything about this fantastic event. It's been added to the run course because this isn't marbles or lawn bowls, this is real triathlon. It's hard and it hurts. And you don't run over it once, you must run over it twice.