Bronto’s very own IronMan
16 August, 2019
Ironman Triathlon is the feared and admired long distance race organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. One of us Brontonians was brave enough to attend this ultimate journey that consists of a 2.4-mile / 3.86km swim, a 112-mile / 180.25 km bicycle ride and a 26.22-mile / 42.20 km run.
Harri is a man of humble attitude, kindness and to say the very least – respectable persistence. This 50 year old father of three started at Bronto Skylift already in 1990, which adds up almost 30 years of building truck mounted aerial platforms. Triathlon has been his chosen leisure activity since 2009. Last year he took his first Ironman contest with finishing time 10:16:50 and apparently was hungry for more, as this August he took it again. Not many of us can do it even once!
Target for this year’s contest was to qualify in less than 10 hours. Morning started with a sturdy self-made breakfast and a taxi ride to the first stage, which was swimming. At 6:40 am Harri took off with few hundred others while the sunrise started to warm up the brisk morning air. After the swim he had to dress up some extra layers in order to stay warm during the cycling in 10C/50F degree temperature. Gearing up took some precious minutes. That together with hard wind conditions slowed our Ironman a bit more that he had planned. Running on the other hand was a success and according to Harri his “legs felt great right from the start”. After a 180 km bicycle ride..? If you say so..
After finishing up with his best running performance of all times, the clock stopped at 10:21:58. Even though the goal of going under 10 hours wasn’t completed, his ranking was better than 2018. He was 13th in his age group. For us, he is our very own Ironman, who has dedicated much of his life to our company, colleagues and his family and still has the energy to do such achievements. Thank you Harri for sharing this journey and inspiring us all.