When Australind resident Tim Facey hit the wall with just eight kilometres to go in the Ironman World Championship, it was a friendly stranger who helped him to the finish line.
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Facey was on the last leg of the triathlon, enjoying the atmosphere when he started running alongside a competitor, turned to him and said "how good will a beer taste once we finish".
The fellow runner couldn't agree more and the pair shared the ten kilometres of the race together.
Facey said he was so thankful for his companion as he would not have gotten over the line without him.
"Then at four kilometres to go, the roles reversed and I had to encourage him to keep going," Facey said.
It took Facey and average of 17 hours per week for 24 weeks to train for his dream event - Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.
After doing a few years of the 70.3 Ironmans in Busselton and the Sunshine Coast, in 2017 he competed in his first full Ironman in Busselton.
However, in 2017 the swim leg was cancelled due to a shark warning so while the rest of the race went ahead, Facey didn't feel like he achieved his goal in competing in a full Ironman.
So he went back in 2018 and surprised himself with a time of 9 hours and 42 minutes which earnt himself a spot in the World Championships in Kona.
"When they read my name out I was so surprised," he said.
From there his training to the October 13, 2019 event began.
"It is a different sort of training because the conditions in Hawaii are hot, humid and hilly," he said.
He said the first eight kilometre run he did into town, with heaps of clothes on he came home drenched in sweat.
"I said to my wife Belinda, 'wow this is going to be hard'," Facey said.
The ride leg in Hawaii has a long hill that goes past two volcanoes, so Facey did a lot of rides in the Ferguson Valley and up to Collie to prepare.
"My longest ride training was 200 km and I did it in under seven hours," he said.
Facey also spent a lot of time in saunas and hot baths to prepare.
The long hours of training meant Facey was almost always away from home and from his family.
"I was really sore but it didn't matter because I was on cloud nine," he said.
- Tim Facey
His riding buddies, the Bunbury Triathlon Club and his family all supported and gave him advice along the way.
"A few of the guys at the club had already done Kona and they said 'make sure you stick to your race plan'," he said.
The moment had arrived for Facey to finally achieve his dream of completing an Hawaiin ironman.
"I swam to the start line and the person next to me said ' do a 360 and look at all those people'," he said.
There were supporters everywhere, with Australians cheering "Aussie Aussie Aussie" throughout the whole race.
"You felt like a superstar," Facey said.
The race did not get off to a good start for Facey as he realised he was on the wrongside and couldn't get his breathing right.
It was also such a big swimming pack that it took 1.6km of other people kicking and punching before he was out on his own and able to stick to his race plan.
It was time for the bike leg and as he rode up the Hawi mountain and saw the two volcanoes he felt the circling wind that everyone told him about.
"I was told don't fight the wind, go with it," he said.
It was very hard as the wind was so strong but Facey kept pushing and in just under five and half hours Facey was off the bike and on his last leg.
Facey was enjoying the run and got goosebumps when he realised he was running down Ali-i Drive in Hawaii.
As Facey was approaching the finish line, he could see his wife Belinda in the crowd and he gave her a kiss.
"I was really sore but it didn't matter because I was on cloud nine," he said.
Facey finished in the top 25 per cent with a time of 10 hours and 17 minutes.
