Ironman with one arm man of steel

Triathlon is a sport with many great stories and ordinary people who are achieving what appears to be the impossible.

One of those is Nick Bailey who will line up this morning in the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand in Taupo.

Bailey is your everyday Kiwi male, in his 50s and knocking close to 90kg he decided he would train for and race in an Ironman. The big difference is Bailey has only one arm.

The athlete lost his left arm in an accident when aged 24, coming out second best to a forklift when working in Antarctica. But it wasn't the lack of an arm worrying Bailey most about taking on Ironman, it was an arthritic knee that required surgery 18 months ago and may yet require replacing.

Bailey is a familiar face within Manawatu's sporting community; he is owner operator of the Manawatu Action Indoor Sports Centre.

He admits to a tough time in the past year as he balanced training, work and some personal setbacks along the way.

"I guess the hardest part of my journey was the first couple of months. I pretty well had to start with no fitness base at all; I was knocking 90 kilos after a couple of years of little or no activity," Bailey said.

"Then I had to carry some weight on a pretty bad knee, which despite an operation 18 months ago may need replacing.

"Once I was through the first couple of months of training and was coping in that aspect reasonably well, the next 8 months or so brought more challenges."

Losing his mother in July was also a setback for Bailey. "She pretty well brought me up since I was a 13-year-old when I lost my father. This will be a big motivation for me," Bailey said.

"The poor old girl spent her last months in a dementia unit and carried the first article from the Manawatu Standard around in her stroller everywhere."

It is not only the memory of his parents and in particular his Mum Bailey will carry with him today.

"I also lost a cycling buddy Doug Mabey in the New Year. He was out on a ride I was supposed to do with him so I have found that particularly hard. The memory of these two people will make the pain easier on the day, though, I reckon."

It is with a healthy sense of irony and with his devilish sense of humour he talked up his strongest part of the day.

"I have spent most of my training on the first two disciplines and I hate to say that my swimming - if I go straight, could be my strongest part of the day.

"I don't swim in circles generally but I am a little worried that when I put my foot down on the swim I could end up in Kinloch."

Cycling presents its challenges with Bailey having a specially-built bike and is ready to walk and run the marathon to finish his day.

Bailey said he hoped his participation would inspire others with disabilities.

"As a role model I have always tried to use my disability to highlight the positive. My life has been based around sport.

"I have been working in indoor sports game since 1990.

At my age I would like to encourage other people with disabilities and health issue to get into sports. I say use it or lose it, give it a go."