ROCHESTER N.Y. (WROC) — David Bradshaw is a physical education teacher at Palmyra-Macedon Central School District and is one of only a handful of residents of the Rochester area competing in the World Ironman Triathlon race this year in Hawaii.
Bradshaw has been into competitions and endurance sports his whole life. Fellow staff member, Marni Surace, witnessed his journey and shared that the students and staff are in awe of his work ethic.
“He is one of the hardest-working people I’ve ever met. He won the corporate challenge in 2005. He won the Rochester Marathon in 2007, and he came in 100th in the Boston Marathon in 2008 out of 35,000 people and he’s still at 43, just getting up every single morning working hard,” says Surace.
From distance running, track and field, and cross country, to even running 5ks and 10ks, Bradshaw said that he’s been training for triathlons since 2013. This competition is by qualification only and he shares that he is feeling several emotions after finally qualifying.
“The energy is just a total buzz. I felt my body, just pins and needles the whole way, in a good way — feeling like you’re going to finally qualify and get to see what it’s like to go, after trying for a long time, putting in hundreds and hundreds of hours over years. I don’t know if I can exactly put it into words. It was electric, it was an adrenaline rush,” said Bradshaw.
Bradshaw will be competing this Saturday where he will swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, come out of the water to bike ride 112 miles, and then end the race with a marathon, which is 26.2 miles.
His race is expected to begin at 1:05 PM EST.