At the Ironman World Championship 70.3 on Nov. 14 in Clearwater, Fla., one Lawrence couple stood happily on the winner’s podium.
Kent and Liz Dobbins have been training for the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1-mile run for nearly 17 months, and their dedication paid off. Kent won his 65-69 age group, and Liz finished fifth in the 55-59 group.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” said Ryan Robinson, race director for Ironman Kansas and Ironman Branson and friend of the couple. “It’s amazing that they participate at the level they do and perform as well as they do. But they’re so humble about it, you wouldn’t know they’re so talented.”
The couple did not begin participating in triathlons together. Kent picked up the sport when a friend mentioned he would be participating.
“I didn’t know how to swim, and I didn’t have a bike, but I just said, ‘Hey, why not?’” Kent said. “Learning how to swim was the most difficult thing I ever did. Then I started to have a little bit of success in my races, and that made me want to work harder.”
In 1985, Liz’s father developed heart problems, so she searched for a sport that would keep her active all her life.
“I took a stress test, and the physician asked if I wanted to do a triathlon. I didn’t know what that was,” Liz said. “Even though I’d been active my whole life, I wanted to be able to age gracefully.”
Kent, an optometrist, and Liz, a physical-education teacher at Shawnee Heights Middle School, met at a race and have continued to support each other through 4 a.m. workouts and 14 years of marriage.
“We’re always challenging each other,” Liz said. “I have to keep up with Kent. I was so glad to be up on the podium with him.”
The Dobbinses typically run or swim on alternate mornings and bike every evening. They shared the goal of making it in the top five at the World Championships.
“It’s kind of our life,” Kent said. “We work and work out. To be a triathlon athlete, you can’t be too bright. You can’t have much of a life. And you need a very understanding spouse.”
The grueling 70.3-mile course demands about 20 hours of training every week.
“It’s really a blue-collar sport,” Robinson said. “There’s no easy way to do it. You can’t just show up on race day having been on the couch the last few months. But the Dobbinses are always there for the Lawrence triathlon community to lend a helping hand or give some advice or just be good company on a hard training day.”
Kent’s finish was his first world championship win, and Liz broke a personal record when she completed the course in under 5 hours, 30 minutes. But the most memorable part of the race for Kent was finding out that his wife would be on the podium with him.
“I’ve really enjoyed having a partner to share these experiences,” Liz said.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
sustainabilitysister (anonymous) says…
Congratulations Dr. Dobbins and Liz!!!!
markoo (anonymous) says…
This is a wonderful story, but I have to respectfully disagree with Ryan Robinson when he states that this is a "blue collar" sport. Given that the average salary of competitors in the race here in Lawrence last summer was something around $150,000/yr, that's anything but blue collar. Furthermore, the bikes themselves, even buying them used, tend to run anywhere between $1500-$5000, not to mention the absolutely ridiculous prices of the wheels which run in the hundreds to thousands of dollars themselves. Then you have the running shoes, swim suits, goggles, socks, various clothing apparel for biking and running, not to mention the bicycle parts and maintenance. And of course if you ever get hurt, you've got doctor and physical therapy bills to cover. And then there's the cost of registration to each race, annual dues to USA Triathlon in order to participate in the race (or you can pay for that each time you race which is even more expensive), cost of travel, hotel and food, and on and on. What's worse, all of these aforementioned items have only increased in cost over the years, especially the bikes and maintenance.
This sport is a very expensive endeavor, and it's no wonder why the average salary is akin to those in the upper-middle to upper class. While I understand Ryan's point that the training involved can be somewhat akin to Blue Collar work, the participants nowadays are very much White Collar that have both time and money to spend.