Iron brothers

Ken Hetherington believes goals should be two things: attainable and challenging.
His goals took him where no Pictou County man or woman has gone before.
Oct. 10 Hetherington, 66, competed in the Ford Ironman World Championship.
His overall time was 16:32:55. He finished 28 out of 35 in his age group and 1,640 out of more than 2,000 qualifying athletes.
Not bad, especially when you consider he had competed in the Penticton race just 40 days before, had a shoulder injury and was competing against the toughest ironmen the world has to offer.
By the end he was tired, sick and in general, worn out. But he did what was most important to him - he reached the finish line.
What made the competition even more special for Hetherington was the fact that his brother John also qualified to compete.
For the swimming portion, competitors started out in the open ocean.
"It's kind of like swimming probably from the Merb to Pictou Island or something," Hetherington said. "To swim out of the harbour is not too bad, but once you get out of the harbour there's swells and stuff like that."
That's not an issue though. Everybody has to deal with those, he said.
One big difference was the level of competition at this ironman compared to the one he competed in Penticton.
"As soon as you get in the water, they're a little more focused so there's a little bit more pushing and shoving and that sort of thing," he said. "People are swimming over each other, and you can't wear a wet suit, so people are getting scratched up and beat up."
The biking portion took the athletes through lava fields. While there's not live lava all over the place, there is intensely hot black rocks.
"It just absorbs the heat and builds up and builds up and builds up and the road is hot and it's just cooking," Hetherington said.
It felt like they were biking into the wind all the time, he said.
Because he was travelling so far, Hetherington decided not to take his own bike with him and rented one once he got to Hawaii. While he lacked the familiarity he would have had with his own bike, he said he was pleased with the one he got.
Had he thought he actually had a chance of winning, he said he would have used his own bike, but he knew he wouldn't after competing in the other race so soon before.
"There was no break at all," he said. "I was beat anyway. There was no chance of winning so I didn't worry about it. I just wanted to go because it could be once in a lifetime."
Would he do it again?
"Yeah, but not for a while," he says.
Luckily he had a week to recoup after the race by enjoying Hawaii with some family.
"After the race we just went touring around and just enjoyed the island, swimming and looking at the fish in the water," he said.
Next on his agenda: the Boston Marathon where he placed eighth overall for his age group earlier this year.
He hopes to do at least as well this year. A man's got to have goals after all.