Ferrington competes in Ironman qualifier

Patty Ferrington, of Whitefish, recently competed in a qualifier for the Ironman Triathlon, completing 70.3 miles in 7 hours 35 minutes on May 30, in Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii.

That included swimming 1.2 miles in 49 minutes 41 seconds, biking 56 miles in 3 hours 37 minutes and 25 seconds and running 13.1 miles in 2 hours 55 minutes and 56 seconds.

What makes this amazing for her friends back in Whitefish is that the Realtor with Windermere Real Estate, who competed in the 55-59 age group, was truly a novice in two of the triathlon's legs.

"As of January 2009, I had not been on a road bike in 25 years, and I just learned to swim less than a year before the event," Ferrington explained.

It took her four weeks practicing with her bike before she got out of the parking lot onto the streets, she said, and she has the scars to prove it. But things could have been worse.

"I was out training in open-ocean swimming, and my coach told me a six-foot shark had passed right underneath us," Ferrington said.

She and her husband Mike spend a lot of time in Hawaii, and Ferrington has watched many Ironman competitions over the years.

"I thought, that's crazy stuff," she said. "I'm athletic, but that's crazy."

In October, however, she decided she wanted to compete in the shorter 70.3 race. Ferrington has long been a long-distance runner — she finished first in her class in the Two Bear Marathon several years ago — and she mountain bikes, sea kayaks, hikes and downhill skis here in Montana.

"The point is to shoot for goals that seem insurmountable — anything is possible," she said.

Ferrington came in 949th out of 1,057 competitors who finished the Ironman qualifier. First place in the event was Craig Alexander, a professional from Australia whose swim time was 24.59, bike time was 2:17:50, and run time was 1:17:12.

"He said it was the hardest 70.3 triathlon he's ever done," Ferrington said. "The bike course is one of the most brutal of all triathlons, with wind, hills and 108-degree temperatures."

The full Ironman Triathlon, which began in 1978, is twice as long as the qualifier in all three legs and totals 140.6 miles. The record was set in 1996 by Luc Van Lierde, of Belgium, at 8 hours 4 minutes and 8 seconds.

Ferrington said she had lots more fun than other competitors because she wasn't shooting for a slot in the October Ironman event. She said she plans to run in the Kona half-marathon on June 28 and then head back to the Flathead for the Whitefish Lake Triathlon on Aug. 16. But is another Ironman event in the works?

"Training was so hard — up at 4 a.m., long hours — I said I'd never do it again," she said. "But now that I think about it, I'm going to do it again. I'm hooked — multi-sport is the way to go. It's so much fun."