Evanston resident, homeschooling mother of nine, and English professor at Western Wyoming Community College traveled to Waco, Texas with her family to compete in the first-ever Waco Ironman. April Lange joined nearly 800 fellow athletes on October 23, 2021, for the grueling 140.6-mile race.
It was the end of a long road. Lange’s rekindled passion for running (she had been a high-school standout in Texas) led to a first-place finish in a local 5k race after the birth of her youngest child. From there, she set her sights on ever-greater challenges.
Her first triathlon was a modest, 32-mile Olympic distance. A triathlon is a race of three disciplines: swimming, biking, and running. Evanston’s “Thin Air Triathlon” was organized by the Proffit ranching family and held on the shores of Sulphur Creek Reservoir.
After conquering the distance—and her competitors—Lange went on to ever greater challenges. In July 2018 she ran her first marathon and qualified to run in Boston. Shortly after her return from the 124th running of the Boston Marathon, in 2019, she set her sights on the Ironman challenge.
The Ironman was first run in 1978 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon. All must be accomplished in under 17 hours.
The level of conditioning required cannot be long maintained. Athletes must ramp up training with a goal of reaching peak conditioning in the weeks before the event. Lange mapped out her training schedule to prepare for a July 2020 race. Then, COVID-19 struck the world.
Among the many disruptions caused by the evil virus and widely varied responses to it, athletic events were canceled around the globe. Early on, the cancellations seemed to make sense. Athletes were disappointed but understanding.
But as time progressed, politicization wreaked havoc on athletes’ well-being. In one case, an Ironman was canceled only two weeks before the start because Harris County Texas used COVID-19 as an excuse to prevent the athletes from riding bicycles on a ten-mile stretch of freeway—although swimming, biking, and running were perfectly “safe” just across the county line.
Arbitrary rulings such as these affected thousands of athletes for more than a year and a half. It’s not just that races were canceled. More harmful was that guidance changed every two weeks, making future planning all but impossible. Repeatedly athletes came near to peak conditioning only to have their race canceled. In disappointment, they had to start the cycle all over again.
Lange struggled through three cancellations before finally being allowed to compete in Waco, Texas. It was a sort of homecoming. During her high school career, she had lived on farm near Waco and still has numerous relatives in the area.
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| Awaiting the start, 10/23/21 |
On race day, a queue of competitors stood in the predawn darkness while the iconic voice of Ironman’s, Mike Reilly, whipped up the crowd. At 7:25 A.M. contestants started plunging into the Brazos River at five-second intervals. After an hour and 25-minute swim, Lange emerged to shed her wetsuit and mount her bicycle.
The hazards of this leg were not limited to physical exertion. Competitors began experiencing flat tires—a lot of them. Race planners had warned the competitors that in a race of this size about 25 flat tires should be expected. But on this day, there were many more.
A malefactor had deliberately sabotaged the bicycle course with tacks. He even defeated the precautions of race organizers who use leaf blowers to clean the course before each race, by gluing the tacks to the road. It is sad to contemplate the darkness of a heart that would deliberately hurt hundreds of strangers who had trained for months just to be there.
Blessedly, Lange avoided any flats. After six hours and 48 minutes, she traded her bike for a pair of running shoes. A marathon later, she crossed the finish line to hear the voice of Mike Reilly say, “April Lange, you are an ironman.” It was the 304th time he had intoned those words in Waco. Completing the course just shy of 14 hours she was the 12th of 27 women in her age group to finish. Thirty-five had started that morning.
Just to finish an Ironman puts a person in an elite fraternity. Counting both official and unofficial races held around the globe, there are approximately 50,000 finishers annually. That’s only 1 in every 140,000 people. A map posted at the entrance of Ironman Village, showed at least one other competitor from Wyoming. I was unable to learn his or her name. If it was you, or someone you know, please email me at the address below. I would like to learn your story.
Wyoming should be proud of anyone with the stick-to-it-ness and discipline to complete this iconic challenge.
Note: This author is the proud husband, and biggest fan, of his wife, April.
Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, November 5, 2021, and in the Kemmerer Gazette, November 16, 2021.
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