‘The Don’ is back in action on the road to recovery

Boston Marathon – the first step on the road to Kona 2018?

If you have even the closest interest in the sport of triathlon, you’ll likely be familiar with the story of Tim Don and the challenges he has faced over the past six months.

Immediately prior to the IRONMAN World Championship in October 2017 – a year in which he had set a new IRONMAN™ World Record in Brazil – Tim’s Kona dreams were broken, literally, following a bike crash when a car turned in front of him, during his final training ride before the race.

A broken neck would lead to three months of rehab in the now infamous ‘Halo’ device.

Determined to continue with his Elite racing career, Tim opted to utilise the Halo to give him the best chance of full recovery – not an easy option, when the device is screwed into your skull.

As part of his comeback, Tim hosted one of our weekly Zwift group workouts (see the live replay HERE), and one of the interesting and perhaps surprising things to come from that was Tim’s plan to take part in the Boston Marathon as his first ‘race’ back. The objective was not competition or times as such, but Tim felt that he needed a goal to aim for, and the opportunity to run in Boston presented itself. Having never run a standalone marathon before, how would he go?

❄️ 40 degree temperatures

💨 Below freezing wind chill

🌧 Continuous downpours of rain#BostonMarathon participants are braving extreme weather conditions to compete in Monday's race. https://t.co/QrZyhe2x4N — Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) April 16, 2018

Well, the weather certainly didn’t help anybody – the impact of which is probably best reflected in just how slow, by Elite standards, the podium times were.

Desi Linden became the first US winner of the race in 33 years, despite ‘only’ running 2:39:54. Last year, Edna Kiplagat (KEN) won the women’s race in 2:21:52.

Given what he has gone through, that he is capable of even finishing deserves celebration. Given the conditions and lack of an type of specific training for the event, his finishing time of 2:49:42 is even more impressive.

A widely read article this week said, ‘This Man Expects to Run a 2:50 in the Boston Marathon on Monday’. Well, he beat his own target…

Thanks it was rather chilly and just a tad wet with a head wind, honest 😜. So happy to get the road to 2018 Kona started 👊🇬🇧🏁 — Tim Don (@trithedon) April 16, 2018

Boston Marathon, Monday 16th April 2018

ELITE MEN

1st – Yuki Kawauchi (JPN) – 2:15:58

2nd – Geoffrey Kirui (KEN) – 2:18:23

3rd – Shadrack Biwott (USA) – 2:18:35

ELITE WOMEN

1st – Desiree Linden (USA) – 2:39:54

2nd – Sara Sellers (USA) – 2:44:04

3rd – Krista Duchene (CAN) – 2:44:20