Grueling world championships welcome ultra-inspired

Just when you think the dust has settled after last month’s Hawaii Ironman World Championship, comes triathlon’s big sister that more than doubles the gruesome distance.

The Hawaii Ultraman World Championships — a challenging three-day, Big Island adventure is set to begin Friday at 6:30 a.m. at Kaiakeakua Beach with a 6.2-mile open water swim to Keauhou Bay.

Racers will then hop onto their bikes to tackle a 90-mile ride to Volcano that will complete Day 1, followed by a 171.4-mile cross-island cycling excursion from Volcano to Kapaau for Day 2, and finishing off with a 52.4-mile double marathon from Hawi to Old Airport State Recreation Area on Day 3.

Now, celebrating its 30th anniversary, the invitation-only elite field will feature a total of 38 participants from around the world, five of which hail from the Big Island. Of those, John Howerton, Sylvia Ravaglia and Stephen Cosgrove are “Ultra Rookies,” each with a personal goal to complete a race that will test the boundaries of human endurance, spirit, and will power.

John Howerton

Age: 34

Occupation: Marketer

Quotable: “Find a way.”

Life hasn’t been easy for Kelso, Wash., native, John Howerton, who has spent the last 10 years regaining his health, reprioritizing his life, and mending a broken heart. On Sunday, Howerton hopes that he will be able to fulfill a dream by crossing the finish line at the Old Airport State Recreation Area, after having completed a grueling three-day endurance challenge covering a total of 320 miles circling the Big Island.

“I used to race motorcycles, it is a very intense sport, it’s all adrenaline,” Howerton said. “I also was a junk food eater, my health started failing in my late teens and early twenties and eventually got worse and worse. I had a pretty dramatic inflammation in my body, battled with chronic fatigue, and arthritis in my knees and wrists.”

Howerton said that during those years he felt depressed all the time, had chronic ailments doctors had a hard time diagnosing and was consuming more medications than he could count. Then, he hit rock bottom.

“In 2008, my dad and grandmother died, then my girlfriend left me,” he said. “I started to spin out, I was depressed, had no money, it was such a hard year, and I was not in a good place mentally. I was left feeling totally broken.”

A year later, Howerton realized that he needed to focus on building back his health. He started weightlifting and thought about his childhood dream of doing an Ironman race after watching the famous Mark Allen and Dave Scott duel on television.

He signed up for Ironman 70.3 Lake Stevens as his comeback race, but that didn’t happen due to his poor health. He then tried for Ironman Coeur d’Alene that sadly resulted in another “no show.”

“I just couldn’t do it, I couldn’t train, so I would keep increasing my goals every time,” Howerton said. “Then I saw a tweet on Twitter and it was Ultraman. My next goal was Ultraman.”

Without having any endurance triathlon races under his belt, such as the popular half-iron or full-iron distances, Howerton said he sold everything he owned, packed his bags, told family and friends of his plans, and moved to Hawaii in March of 2011 with the sole purpose of getting into Ultraman.

It was then, that for the first time in Howerton’s life, things began to fall into place. He began working for Oliver and Julia Kiel at Cycle Station, cleaned up his diet, completed his first half-iron distance at Team Mango’s Mini Monster triathlon in 2013, won the Monster Triathlon (full-iron distance) a year later, and was ready to submit his Ultraman application after crewing for six-time Ultraman World Champion, Alexandre Ribeiro, over the last two years.

“I am super excited, I have been waiting for this for five years,” he said. “It will be a rebirth, it will reset all of that (stuff) that I went through in the past. I will feel reborn again for my health. I’ve learned to embrace the hurt, and I like it. To know that I’ve become strong again will mean everything.”

Sylvia Ravaglia

Age: 37

Occupation: Horse trainer/riding instructor

Quotable: “Be happy on the inside.”

Sylvia Ravaglia loves endurance challenges; it’s in her blood. Some people might think she is crazy for wanting to do an Ultraman, but for Ravaglia, any challenge is worth the effort as long as there’s a finisher’s T-shirt involved.

“I don’t know what it is, but I may have a fatigue addiction,” Ravaglia joked. “I definitely like the curiosity of not knowing how (the race) will turn out when I have never done it before. It is very satisfying to accomplish a goal you never thought you could.”

One of those goals came earlier in the year when Ravaglia finished the HURT 100-mile endurance trail run in Oahu with an impressive time of 34 hours and 35 minutes.

A month later, Ravaglia became the overall winner and set a course record at Team Mango’s Monster Triathlon — a full-iron distance featuring a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run. And last month, Ravaglia topped the women’s field at Oahu’s Peacock Ultra marathon race, a 100K (62 miles) in a stellar time of 14 hours, 41 minutes and 12 seconds.

“I’m not super fast, but I can go for a very long time,” Ravaglia said of Ultra marathons and races. “I love the training. Once I get started, it becomes meditative, it’s very pure, I’m able to mentally drift — it’s zen.”

Ravaglia, who grew up in Oahu and moved to Waimean 10 years ago, said the first time she heard about Ultraman was during a bike ride while training for the Honu half-Ironman race in 2010.

“I met Cory (Foulk) on a training ride and we chatted briefly about Ultraman,” she said. “At that time, it sounded a like a great idea and it sounded like a lot of fun — a three-day party around the island. I guess the seed was planted then as I always kept it in the back of my mind.”

Fast forward to present day, the two-time IRONMAN World Championship finisher is looking to add the Ultraman World Championship finisher’s T-shirt to her growing collection.

“I know this is physically hard but I’ve learned to flip the switch and not be negative,” Ravaglia said of enduring tough moments. “I tell myself that it’s OK, to keep going, and learned that if I don’t panic and just check in with myself, then I can get through it. It’s the acceptance; it doesn’t mean you have to mentally fall apart. Be happy on the inside.”

Stephen Cosgrove

Age: 51

Occupation: Senior Information System Technologist

Quotable: “Make every moment count!”

Before last year’s IRONMAN World Championship race, Kailua-Kona’s Stephen Cosgrove had never swam 2.4 miles. On Sunday, the man affectionately known as “Mr. Blue” will more than double that distance at his first attempt at the Ultraman World Championships.

“I think I’m feeling a little bit of both (terrified and confident), that I’ll be able to get through the first day,” Cosgrove said. “I’m more worried about the weather. If I can’t make it then it’s my problem. But if it’s something out of my control then I will feel bummed.”

Cosgrove, who plans to wear his signature blue tri-kit for the race, has good reason to be thinking about the weather that may affect the logistics of completing the endurance feat. Two years ago, eight athletes DNF’d on the first day after battling strong currents, chop and wind during the swim.

Racers may also face notoriously brutal headwinds during the first leg of the bike ride toward Volcano. Not to mention the possibility of an alternate route planned for the bike course on Saturday should the stalled lava activity resume and proceed closer to Highway 130.

But that doesn’t come as a surprise for Cosgrove who had volunteered his services as a run escort for Ultraman participants over the last two years. Enduring harsh conditions comes with the territory and a well-earned bragging right for the strongest who survive.

“To actually run with someone (in Ultraman) is a lot different than driving for someone along the course,” Cosgrove said. “The first year, I crewed on accident for Suzy (Degazon). I ran from Scenic Point all the way into town and thought it was fun. Last year, I ran with Jason Nixon from Kohala Ranch all the way in. I didn’t expect to run that far but once I did it I thought, yeah, I can do this!”

As a Senior Information System Technologist working at the Pohakuloa Training Area, Cosgrove squeezes in training time by running on the Pohakuloa grounds at an elevation of 6,500 feet or jumping into fun local events such as last weekend’s C2Kohala cycling race.

Cosgrove said he doesn’t have a coach but has enjoyed long training sessions with friends Rachel Gillis, Ricci Racela and Susan Nixon who have kept him motivated and will be crewing for him on race day.

“It will mean a lot,” Cosgrove said of crossing the finish line on Sunday. “My wife and close friends will be there, it will be a lot like the finish at my Kona Ironman race last year. Only, just a lot less people have accomplished Ultraman.”