Made of Iron
2000 wetsuit-clad bodies stand like a huddle of penguins on a beach in Frankston, Victoria. The sun is just awake and an arctic-like blizzard has whipped-up the waters of Port Philip Bay, sending metre-high waves crashing onto the shore. It’s bitterly cold as a flock of spectators gathers on a pier adjacent to the beach, waiting patiently for their black brood to take fright and head out to sea. Penguins or madmen? Ironmen more likely, ironwomen too. Call them what you will, but there’s no doubting the determination of this lithe lot in lycra. The mass human migration from the beach represents the first leg – a 3.8km swim – of a gruelling event to rival wildebeest crossing the Zambezi River. If they survive the angry sea awash with porpoising bodies clambering and kicking their way around buoys and make it back to the beach, a 180km bike ride takes them to hell and back before a punishing 42.2km marathon runs each competitor into the ground. Feeling exhausted...