Rumon

Ironman Canada, 2001

Rumon is a writer (blog); photographer (homepage; Flickr); speaker; coach; biologist; lawyer; and sports and healthy living advocate.  He abhors boredom and seeks experiences like a young boy seeks flat stones while walking beside a mirror-flat pond.

Rumon has cultivated a life in sport since his early teens and attributes many of his finest experiences and friendships to his involvement in sport. His first exposure to national-level competition came atop skinny skis gliding over snow. Cross-country ski racing was and remains a passion, however it was in the sport of biathlon – combining the lung-searing aspects of cross-country with the mental acuity of marksmanship – that Rumon found an irresistible competitive marriage.

Illness cut his winter sport career short, so Rumon focused on his academics in order to obtain degrees in first wildlife biology, then law.  At the same time, he turned his focus towards sports more conducive to the southern climes in which he found himself studying and working and worked his way onto the national amateur triathlon team, competed in multi-day running and cycling events and took up adventure racing.

Rumon (stern), up the creek with a partner with only half a paddle

Illness struck again in 2001 while Rumon was training for Ironman Canada, his first.  Though he was able to complete the race (in a time of 9:27; 3rd amateur), the following years were a non-stop barrage of testing, culminating in first one, then a second heart surgery.  Following the second procedure, in late 2008, Rumon found he was still symptomatic, running into significant cardiac distress while engaging in, for example, hiking and cycle commuting, let alone high level sport.  While going through more tests and awaiting a potential third heart surgery, Rumon’s doctors put him on a course of beta blockers, which had the effect of moderating his heart rate (good) but at the same time, reducing his cardiac capacity by 30 bpm at the top end (not so good…from a performance perspective).

His direction from the doctors was to consider his high level sporting career on hold and to get used to a new, more sedentary mode of existence.  It was a message not well received.

And then he got the call inviting him to race TransRockies.