Deaf Ironman Feature #2: Interviews with 5 athletes
Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter: The Ironman Triathlon is one of the most challenging sporting events in the world. We interviewed Deaf people who have completed their Ironman races. This is part 2 of the Ironman Deaf triathletes interview. If you have not seen part 1 yet, please check out the link to the video in the transcript below. Now, it is part 2 as we interviewed 5 Deaf Ironman athletes, four from the USA and one from the U.K., to share their experiences and how the Deaf community can show support for the Deaf triathletes.
Kamden Romano: Hello everyone! My name is Kam, and here is my name in BSL. I myself am a queer transgender triathlete from Illinois, just outside of Chicago. I’ve participated in nine Ironman events I believe, eight half Ironmans and one full Ironman. I’m happy to be here with you all!
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Mark Hester: Hello! My name is Mark from U.K. I have done 4 Ironmans. I did two in USA and two in Europe. I did one of the toughest locations for Ironman which was in Wales. That was a tough one and I did it. I started when I was 46 years old. It’s been 5 years for me. I can explain why later.
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Jia Zhang: Hello everyone, hello to the fans too! My name is Jia Zhang, and in BSL… was that good? I’m from Shanghai, China, and I grew up in Virginia and Washington DC. I’m now planted in Austin, Texas, and I’ve participated in two full Ironmans and Mark was with me for the first time! And two 70.3 competitions as well.
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Dana Dobbs: Hello, hello! My name is Dana Dobbs and I live in Maryland. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania before moving here 35 years ago. I have completed the Ironman competition 16 times and the World Championship in Kona, Hawaii for the 3rd time as well.
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Heather Suhr: Hi, I’m Heather, I’m from Wisconsin but I’m currently living in Nebraska. This is my first year competing in Ironman, and I’ve done one half and one full. The half was my first time, and that was with Kam. I just completed the full Ironman in Wisconsin. So that’s two down and I’ll keep going for sure!
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Kam, Jia, and Dana: Congratulations!
Renca: When it comes to training, you don’t all have to share, but if anyone wouldn’t mind sharing some insights on their training. I mean, is it every day, Monday through Sunday? What does that look like? If you could give us an idea, I'm sure everyone will be a bit different in terms of what you need, how you track things, etc. Maybe one or two of you could share your typical training schedule so people can get an idea. I’m sure it’s not like an hour a day, probably several hours a day. Could one or two of you share that with us?
Jia: The schedule is tough. For me, it’s a full-time job. I’ve got my hands full with my family. My schedule dictates that I train in the mornings because it’s the only available time I can fit into my schedule. The afternoons are dedicated to being with my kids and their activities. Then on weekends, my kids tend to wake up earlier, which means I train even earlier on those mornings to accommodate. I’m grateful that my family wouldn’t let me give that up, they allowed me to keep up with my training. It’s all about commitment, you make time for it.
Heather: My training has been focused on four-week phases. The first three weeks are the building phase, and the fourth week is a recovery phase to allow my body time to rest and recover. I train almost every day. I alter my training based on my stress and recovery. But those are the basics of my training, that building up to the peak and then before competition, bringing it back down in preparation for competition day. That’s been my focus.
Renca: Last two questions. Firstly, how can we in the Deaf community, whether it’s Deaf people, Deaf fans, whatever the case may be, how do we get involved in supporting you for these Ironman competitions? Because I’m sure it can feel less lonely when fans come to see you. When I went to experience Ironman for the first time, I had just gone to experience a full Ironman as a fan, I was blown away by the people who came out to cheer everyone on. Do you feel it would make a difference if you had Deaf people coming to root for you? What can the community do for you? My second question is, can everyone do it?! Those are my questions to you all!
Kam: I’ll answer your second question. Yes, definitely, I think everyone can do it. For example, some people may be thinking, oh I don’t know how to swim, I’m not sure I’ll have access to a pool, I don’t have a bike, things like that. But I want you all to know there are also team relays, meaning two or three people can compete as one team. It’s nice, one person can swim, another can bike, and a third can run. So a team of three people can experience it together if you’d like to check Ironman off your list! There are other ways if you feel Ironman may be too great a task to accomplish solo, maybe you’d prefer to see the experience first and build up to it. You could see at the recent Ironman in Wisconsin, there was such a diverse group of people there. Some were thin, others buff, and some were tall, it’s such a wide range. Anyone can do it, it’s just essential to train for it. Commit to your training and make it your priority. When you prioritize it, you will succeed with it.
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Jia: You should know, less than 1% of people in this world finished Ironman. I’m thankful that I was able to better the problems I was having with migraines. That’s what got me started, and sure enough, after time my migraines were gone. I didn’t need a prescription for it anymore. I was hooked from that point and I was able to enjoy swimming, biking and running more. It was a beautiful opportunity right there. It’s good to encourage younger people who are curious about this. My oldest son has already finished a triathlon last year. He completed a smaller one and really liked it and this is his second year. Soon my youngest will be trying it in the Spring. If that goes well, the three of us can train together. Even my wife, I am trying to pull her in too!
Mark: I would like to see more Deaf people in triathlons because the ICSD, we are pushing the ICSD to add triathlons in the Deaflympics. It could be like a sprint triathlon or standard triathlon, etc. I really want to see the growth of more Deaf people joining us. For example, recently we had 14 Deaf people for the half Ironman in Eagleman (Maryland). Billy Allaband set that up for us. It was beautiful. I want to see more of that. Like the Arizona one coming soon, there will be 3 Deaf people involved and Jia is one of them too. I want to see more Deaf people join internationally too. Many are in Europe too including Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, etc. There is a high number of Deaf triathletes all over so we need to get together and want to see more! Under the ICSD, I hope to see a triathlon set up ready for the next generation.
Heather: Based on my recent experience, the fans are key. It’s interesting, one of my friends noticed that when I see my Deaf fans rooting for me, I run faster. I move faster, I’m more excited. It really keeps me going! So that’s important, especially with Deaf fans since we have that in common and we can chat with each other. It makes the experience so fun. I think of it just like football with tailgating. With Ironman you can take time to gather with Deaf people, chat and give support, it’s like tailgating all day and it’s fun! Another benefit too is that yes, we’re competing, but we can also be fans too. We support each other. I think it’s important to connect with people, take that lead and become a source of support. Learn how to get involved and become a supporter too. Fans are important!
Dana: I think another thing that really helps is that the Ironman has bibs that say “DEAF” on them. With the Deaf bibs, it helps people see that Deaf people can do it. Hearing people or even hard-of-hearing people can see the Deaf bib and say wow- this Deaf man or woman can do it! Many hearing people think that Deaf people can’t. So Deaf people grow up being told that they can’t. Deaf CAN. You see the Deaf bibs, not hearing impaired. A Deaf bib helps to show that Deaf people can do it.
We want to thank all of the 7 people that we interviewed related to the Ironman triathlon in parts 1 and 2. We were also told that Dana Dobbs, one of the people we interviewed, is currently in Kona, Hawaii for his Ironman race this weekend. There are many locations for the Ironman race around the world, but the race in Kona, Hawaii is the most coveted one because it is hard to be qualified to get in and that location is like the “mother lode” since that is where the first Ironman started in 1978. So we are excited that Dana is there this weekend and we wish Dana the best of luck!
It is amazing what a human body can do! We applaud those Deaf triathletes. We look forward to the growing number of Deaf triathletes, and perhaps one day we will see it in the Deaflympics.