Brian Ricker's Road to IronMan

Road to Ironman:
My Race – My story
I had a great race day I finished within 17 hours (13:55) healthy and loved every minute of the race. I had a great support group – thank-you Lorna and Steve – who went to every corner of the race course to encourage me along.
Swim – 1:16
Bike – 7:04
Run – 5:14
Truly, IMC was one of the most memorable days of my life however it was the year leading up to that special day in August I will always remember. I have met some of the most wonderful people (athletes) and have some great memories that will last a lifetime. Swim classes, Saturday morning bike rides, lake swims and race days.
In the spring of 2008, inspired by Dave& Darryl Tainsh and Mike Gorman to take on the Ironman challenge – thanks guys I am very thankful for your motivation.
August 2008, I drove from Kelowna to Penticton to watch and cheer on Mike and Dave at IMC. The day was one of the most inspirational and emotional events I had ever seen, watching athletes push their bodies to the highest limits. That night, while driving back to Kelowna, I decided to drive back to Penticton the next morning and register for IMC 2009. After the 2 hour wait in line and hearing all the stories of the different Triathlons, I didn’t even know the difference between a Sprint distance, Olympic distance and Half Ironman I still hadn’t figured out the distance of an Ironman. Before leaving Penticton I was introduced by Dave to Todd Malcolm, a triathlon coach, I didn’t think I needed one of those however hiring a coach was one of the most important pieces to me successfully completing IMC.
My background:
- Never swam 25 meters
- Never ran further than 10km’s
- Never road more than 5km’s (mountain bike)
What was I thinking!?
Well, I hired a coach (Todd Malcolm) started swimming 3 days a week, trained on a trainer during the fall and winter at Talisman and ran indoors and outdoors throughout the winter.
After meeting with Todd, I give him a lot of credit, and reviewing my lack of experience in triathlon racing we put together a plan. I would run a ½ Marathon, ½ Ironman and ultimately IMC.

What was Todd thinking!?

I made great progress in the pool continued 3 days a week up to race day. In April, I bought a road bike and started with these classes called brick classes every Saturday morning. In June, I ran HSBC Half Marathon – 1:50 and in July I raced in my first triathlon GWN – 6:04.
Training to the next level;

Well, after completing GWN, I realized it was time to step it up a notch. I had to improve my swimming, increase the length of my bike rides and run further than two hours.
I accomplished a lot of firsts in the two months leading to IMC:
In August I ran 25 km’s followed by 30km’s the next weekend. Increased my cycling from 3 hour rides to 6 hours and continued with long lake swims.

I had trained to the best of my ability all year, however I doubted myself days leading up to IMC – could I swim 3.8 km’s, could I ride 180km’s and could I run a marathon more importantly could I put it all together.
WOW what an overall experience! I hope to see you all on the pool deck, brick class or riding those long rides in the spring.

Thanks Todd and all those others for supporting me and believing in me along the way.


Your welcome Brian, you did an amazing job!!!