If ever Cam Wurf needed proof that he can still handle a huge load on and off course, the last few weeks absolutely provided it.
The 41-year-old pro cyclist and triathlete produced a pretty extraordinary feat of endurance by acing two of the world’s most iconic races, in different sports. Just over a week apart.
First, on October 26 Wurf claimed seventh place with a time of 7:51:26 in a quite brutal IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, threading his way through the field on a day which claimed so many hopes with some pretty epic blowups.
If anybody thought Wurf needed time to recover from that huge effort, wrong, as he was back in action just eight days later when he raced the New York Marathon. Again he was stellar – coming home in a time of 2:36:22 in the Big Apple.
Season not over for Cam Wurf
The season for Cam apparently is still not done though, as he is now on the start list for IRONMAN Cozumel on Sunday November 24.
Wurf spoke only this week about his incredible ability to keep pushing the boundaries at the age of 41, writing on his Instagram account: “I’ve been ask a lot lately, as an “older” athlete, do I find my recovery isn’t the same as it used to be? My answer, No, if anything, I believe I can train at a higher level & recover better, than I did when I was a “younger” athlete. I feel this is quite fortunate as I really have no choice. The current generation is getting so fast that I have to lift my game if I want to remain competitive at the highest level.
“The truth however is, while I believe this to be the case, the fact people ask me the question so often made me doubt myself. Am I just convincing myself that I’m still able to handle the workload I need to be able to handle? Well, Running the NY Marathon one week after Kona was a test for myself, to prove to myself, how my body is holding up.
“So how did I feel in NY? I felt like I was flying🛫 Still a bit left under the hood yet👊”
IRONMAN Cozumel start list
Cozumel of course offers qualification for the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, and Wurf is joined by a number of other big names on the start list (subject to change of course).
The list is headed by France’s Leon Chevalier, who claimed an excellent fourth position in that brutal Kona slugfest last month. Intriguingly it also contains one Marten Van Riel – who has been a superstar at the T100 distance this year after stepping up for short-course Olympic distance racing. No word as yet on whether he will race.