Ironman

FOR someone whose sporting career had been brought to a sudden and traumatic halt by a horrific cycling accident 12 years previously, it took a huge amount of grit, determination and soul-searching for Ger Hartmann to get back on a bike not just once but twice in order to compete in the 25th Anniversary Ironman triathlon.

So when the world-renowned physical therapist crossed the line at Kona on Hawaii's Big Island 10 days ago having completed the daunting 140.6-mile event in 11 hours seven minutes and 24 seconds, the 42-year-old was not just finishing one of the toughest sporting tests of human endurance, he was closing a chapter of his life that had been left open since a very dark day in 1991.

He may now have a client list at his hometown Limerick practice including such luminaries of the track as Paula Radcliffe and Sonia O'Sullivan and 30 other Olympic medallists but when disaster struck