CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Casey Gallaher is a husband, a father and a teacher.
But in his mind, he’s Iron Man.
Mr. Gallaher is among 1,800 people chosen to participate in the Ironman World Championship on Oct. 9 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
“This is something I get to do for me,” said Mr. Gallaher, 29, who teaches at Chilhowee Middle School in Benton, Tenn. “This has been a dream of mine, a huge goal.”
The Ironman triathlon includes a 26.2-mile foot race, 2.4-mile ocean swim and 112-mile bike race. Competitors are chosen either by winning qualifying events held around the world, or through a lottery.
Athletes must finish the course in less than 17 hours or be eliminated, said Catie Case, spokeswoman for the World Triathlon Corp.
PERSONAL GLANCE* Name: Casey Gallaher* Age: 29* Family: Wife, Hollie, and daughter, Sadie, 22 months* Occupation: Physical education teacher at Chilhowee Middle SchoolON THE WEBTo learn more about the Ironman World Championship, visit http://ironman.com.
But all who do finish get to say they competed in the world’s best-known triathlons. And the male and female competitors who finish first get $110,000 and bragging rights as Ironman World Champion, Ms. Case said.
Mr. Gallaher trains from 3 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. in the mornings and after 8 p.m. at night to make sure his family has all that they need before he leaves the house, said his wife, Hollie, who runs half-marathons. The couple has a 22-month-old daughter, Sadie.
Mr. Gallaher’s father, Terry Gallaher, said he’s not surprised by his son’s ambition.
“He has always loved sports,” Terry Gallaher said. “He loves to exercise and pushes himself to the limit.”
The elder Gallaher, 54, and his wife, Sharon, 52, also are athletes.
“I think it runs in the family,” he said.
Sharon Gallaher had knee surgery this month so she would be ready to play racquetball with her husband in the Senior Olympics statewide competition in Franklin, Tenn., in July. Casey’s older brother is running in the New York Marathon this fall.
Hollie Gallaher said her husband has talked about entering the Ironman World Championship competition at least since he was a sophomore in college.
He competed in an Ironman competition in November and finished in 13.5 hours, she said.
The swim is the only part of the competition that worries her, Mrs. Gallaher said.
In the November event, someone nearly pulled him under the water by grabbing hold of his ankle to pull themselves up, she said.
“It’s like a wrestling match. When other people are swimming they don’t look where they’re going, and they come down on your head,” she said.
Because everybody is in a wetsuit, it’s hard to tell what’s happening to whom.
“Once I see him out of the water, I’m not nervous,” she said.