Orange's Steve Robinson reflects on completing the Kona Ironman

Ever since 2020, his eyes had been on the Hawaii event.

Qualification would come via the Port Macquarie Ironman - and in 2020 he was training his hardest.

Originally slated for May, it was then rescheduled to September due to COVID.

COVID continued, and once again it was moved to May 2021.

Then Port Macquarie was heavily affected by floods, which followed another cancellation.

COVID returned to stop the September 2021 edition.

"I was constantly training, because of the rescheduling you couldn't stop and have a rest, I had to keep going," he said.

Finally, in May 2022, Robinson was able to compete and ticked a goal off the bucket list by qualifying for the Kona Ironman.

"It had been nearly three years of constant Ironman training, it wears you down a bit, especially the winters in Orange," he said.

But COVID wasn't done with Robinson yet.

Five weeks before he was scheduled to fly out to Hawaii, he contracted the disease. He also had a calf strain in the build up too, making for a less than ideal preparation.

Orange Triathlon Club members describe Robinson as an extremely modest man, and that's evident in his description of those setbacks.

"They were sort of minor things, just threw a bit of a spanner in the works," he said.

Despite losing two weeks of training due to the injury and COVID, Robinson made it to Kona and on October 6 completed the grueling event.

Travelling over with him was a large contingent of family members that included his wife Bernadette, three sons and five grandchildren.

His nephew also completed the event on October 8, finishing with the rest of the field.

A combination of seeing them throughout the course and the general determination to finish is what he credited for pushing him across the line.

"Any Ironman is normally a mental challenge, you go through spots thinking why am I doing this but it all becomes worthwhile once you cross the finish line," he said.

"You've just got to think about that finish line all the time because that's what keeps you going. There's a fairly famous saying around Ironman that 'you don't do an ironman, you become an ironman'.

"It changes your life and gives you a huge amount of confidence knowing you can do anything."

While finishing the Ironman is a noble achievement in itself, the time he completed it in has Robinson motivation to go again.

"I didn't go as well as I hoped for various reasons and there's (injury and COVID) a few of those, but they're irrelevant really," he said.

"It makes me want to go a bit more, probably not next year, but I'll have a good go at qualifying the year after to see if I can do the race properly.

"Those bad races drive you to do better."

And as it goes with that much exercise, there can always been an empty stomach accompanying an athlete on the finish fine.

But Robinson said all competitors were well fed.

"After the final race on October 8 there was a banquet of champion for all competitors ... it was huge," he said.

"Over the two days there was over 5000 athletes ... not everyone goes to the banquet but it was enormous."

Overall though - with adversity and bucket lists considered - Robinson is just grateful for the experience.

"I was lucky to get a qualification spot and even luckier to be able to go and do it," he said.

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