FORMER Canberra Raiders player, Phil Carey, knows what its like to reach the pinnacle of team sport tasting that ultimate success in 1990 when the Raiders won the NRL grand final.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With his playing days well behind him he has swapped tries for triathlon, IRONMAN Australia, Port Macquarie will be his 10th Ironman.
Phil is accustomed to being smashed week in week out by the man mountains who populate an NRL field. This puts him in a unique position to answer the question, which hurts more an NRL game or an Ironman?
"An Ironman will hurt for a good week, an NRL game hurt on Mondays and then came good after that," he said.
Phil also said it was hard to say which felt better finishing an Ironman or getting to the top of the mountain in the NRL.
However this year the Ironman may answer that question for him. This year at Port Macquarie could provide Phil one of his most memorable sporting moments.
On the start line with him in his tenth Ironman is his 18-year-old son Jackson.
"My ultimate goal this year is to finish my 10th Ironman, and to see my son Jackson finish his first at 18-years-old," he said.
Phil finished playing in the NRL in 1991, as a result Jackson has grown up in a triathlon family, not an NRL one.
"I have been surrounded by triathlon for most of my life, watching my dad race, and also competing against my brothers at a younger age, although they no longer compete. I like the personal satisfaction that is attached to triathlon and the ongoing challenges that are presented from it, such as early morning training sessions and the variation in race lengths," Jackson says.
Jackson who is studying Year 12, is nervous but excited about his first Ironman race.
"At the moment I'm not nervous which I believe could come from my long association with the sport and this race in particular, however as the race draws closer I am sure that my nerves will grow and that anticipation will rise.
The main advice Dad has given me is just to take my time, and most of all enjoy it."
And what does Mum think of the pair always swimming, biking and running?
"She is very supportive of us both, however I think she has the odd motherly concern here and there, but all in all she attends all my other races and is foremost supportive of us both."
