WHEN Nat Heath crosses the finish line at the Ironman World Championship, he will be making a profound statement.
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In finishing, the proud Aboriginal will become the first person to carry the Aboriginal flag up Ali’i Drive, showing the world that Aboriginal Australians are a strong and proud people who should be valued and respected, Heath believes.
Growing up on the original bike course of Ironman Australia in Forster-Tuncurry, New South Wales meant that completing an Ironman event has always been on the 30-year-old's radar.
As a child, Heath rode his bike down to the cycle course turnaround to cheer on the Ironman athletes. It was in these formative years that the seed was planted on his Ironman dreams.
In 2010, Heath became aware of Australian marathon running legend Robert De Castella’s Indigenous Marathon Programme (IMP), which uses the event as a vehicle to promote healthy lifestyles to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, giving them the opportunity to run the New York Marathon.
In 2012, he decided to apply for the IMP, he sent an email and then promptly forgot about it. Living in Newcastle at the time of the Sydney tryouts, he’d decided he wasn’t going to attend. But a phone call from IMP confirming his attendance would change his life.
"I was in the middle of something at work when they called and just answered off the cuff saying I’d be there. Once I say I’m doing something I like to keep my word, so of I went," Heath says.
The tryouts consisted of a 5km time trial and a beep test. Heath did well and was selected to be part of the IMP team.
"At the time I really needed something as I felt I was becoming pretty stagnate in my life. I also thought it was a great opportunity to be a positive role model for my family and the Aboriginal community."
In his own family, he had experienced the devastation that an unhealthy lifestyle can cause. He has lost his father, uncle, nana, and grandfather all at a young age.
The year before his girlfriend lost her grandfather to cancer, and her mother and her aunt to diabetes.
"I wanted to show our community and my nephews and niece that this is not what being an adult is about, that it’s not normal. I wanted to show that you could be healthy and exercise," he says.
Hurricane Sandy hit New York just before Heath was due to make his marathon debut in 2012, the race was cancelled and while he was disappointed, the entire IMP team stayed on to help with the clean-up.
He made his marathon debut at the Tokyo Marathon the following February running 3:13, and has since run a 2:52.
After a workmate started competing in triathlons, Heath took to YouTube and stumbled on some footage of the Ironman World Championship, after that he was hooked. That was in late 2011, so when he crossed the finish line at this year’s Ironman Australia and realised he’d taken out his age group, the tears began to flow.
"I had worked really hard to get to that point and I was so relieved because you are never sure if you’re actually going to be good enough to make it. Although the tears quickly stopped when I got a massive calf cramp and was in agony."