: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comFew competitions compare to the grueling gauntlet of endurance that is Ironman. The yearly triathlon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, includes 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and a full 26.2 mile running marathon. Even second-place finishers have been known to cross the finish line on their hands and knees.
Now in its 30th year, the competition began as an effort to test the boundaries of human potential, and in 1997, those limits expanded even further with the addition of the physically challenged division. Today, as prosthetics and technology advance, what were thought to be prohibitive disabilities are simply minor obstacles due to the truly iron will of the competitors.
Click through the gallery to read two such competitors' stories and see the gear that helps level the Ironman playing field.
Left: Marc Aten, 34, assembles his handcycle the day before running his third Ironman. His bike-leg goal for this year was 7:30:00, and he finished in 8:10:09.
"The bike, well it was disappointing," Aten said after the race. "I just thought I would be a lot faster. Of course, my camel pack for my nutrition was clogged up somehow, so I had to take the gels out on the course, which my stomach just can’t handle. But I knew I didn’t have a choice. Talk about getting sick ... good times."
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comAten's wife, Tiffany Brenneman, helps him bring his racing wheelchair and handcycle to check in. The couple eloped in Hilo, Hawaii, two days after last year's Ironman triathlon.
Aten, who has no feeling in his right leg and had his left leg amputated a few years ago due to spina bifida, attributes getting up the nerve to ask his wife out on their first date to the confidence he gained racing his first Ironman in 2006.
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.com"If you can do Ironman, you can do anything," Aten said, before the competition. He finished with a time of 12:10:13.
"I truly loved it," Aten commented after the race. "Not only did I have to make sacrifices every day, but so did Tiffany. Sometimes I think she sacrifices a lot more than me. We are a team, so I knew that it was for the both of us. I truly love the journeys."
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comThe pack of more than 1,700 participants splash from the starting line of the grueling 2.4-mile Ironman swim.
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comJeff Glasbrenner took third place in the physically challenged men's division, swimming the 2.4 miles in 1:14:39, biking 112 miles in 6:43:51 and finishing off with a 26.2 mile run in 6:13:40. All while breaking in a new leg that he matched with a new shoe "so the pain would be even."
In 1981, Glasbrenner was involved in a traumatic farming accident, leaving him a below-the-knee amputee. Far from a tragedy, Jeff says it was his greatest opportunity. Like any situation, he says, you can either embrace it and make the best of it, or you can regret it and fail. Glasbrenner finished the 30th Ironman competition with a time of 14:18:58.
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comJeff Glasbrenner kicks off all of his technology to swim a 1:14:39 race, taking third place overall in the men's physically challenged division.
"The bike was a bit windy," Glasbrenner said after the race, "but I loved the added challenge. It wasn't the best day to break in my new running leg or shoe. It normally takes a few months to get adjusted, so it was a painful day with plenty of obstacles."
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comWith a time spread from 8:17:45 to 16:56:27, the race is a monster for all competitors. At left, No. 1180, Isao Funaki, 37, from Japan plods through the running leg of the triathlon.
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comBrian Leske came in fourth in the biking portion, with a time of 7:55:52, behind Jeff Glasbrenner's 6:43:51. Leske uses a different style prosthetic than Glasbrenner, which raises the question of how much the various designs play a factor.
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comA hard and lonely road, Marc Aten's time of 8:10:09 "was disappointing."
"I just thought I would be a lot faster," Aten said after the race. "The new chair felt OK. I mean, it was fast, but I couldn’t use it to its full potential. It is too small, so I was just in so much pain. I have huge bruises on my ribs. Looks like I bled a bit also, but my time was still close to what I thought I would do."
: Photo: Kat Wade/Wired.comAten completed the final "run" portion of the race with a time of 2:36:42, pushing his way past fire dancer Sarah Davis, who helped light the way through the pitch black. Aten earned himself fourth place in the handcycle division.
"At some points I just wanted to call it a day," he said. "Even at the beginning of the swim. Fear just can overtake you. I know we all have our moments out on the course, but to me Ironman represents life. Just focus on that moment, and there isn't anything to fear. Things didn't go as I wanted, but that is just how it is. I wasn't going to let anything ruin my day. I had a great time."
