Stephen Awwad is one of more than 1000 people that will start the Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney race at the Penrith Lakes on Saturday. But for him the race has an extra special meaning.
For him this Ironman is the culmination of many years of weight loss and a way to put a smile on the face of his son, who has been through so much.
“I was 146 kilos – I was gone and finished after my wife passed away. “I’ve changed that into 96 kilos of muscle and endurance and a machine.''
- Stephen Awwad
Mr Awwad, 35, has spent the last few years using exercise and physical tests to help inspire his son, Ayyub, who has muscular dystrophy.
“When I get into the pain, probably in the last 21 kilometre run, I’m just going to think about my son,’’ Mr Awwad said.
“I’m going to say to myself, look how fortunate we are to be healthy and what he would do to have this simple gift of health that I take for granted.
“You know what I do? I run harder for him. That’s what I do.”
Ayyub was recently diagnosed with the degenerative disease, which compounded the boy’s loss after his mother, and Mr Awwad’s, wife died in a tragic accident in 2010.
Mr Awwad, who lives at Picnic Point, wants to complete the Ironman 70.3 in Penrith to lift his son’s spirits and show him that anything is possible.
He completed the MS Sydney to Gong Ride and the Blackmores Marathon in Sydney.
“I was 146 kilos – I was gone and finished after my wife passed away,’’ he said.
“I’ve changed that into 96 kilos of muscle and endurance and a machine.
“It's been a dedicated and consistent journey for me.”
The Ironman 70.3 course is a challenge, including a 1.9 kilometre swim, 90 km bike ride and 21.1 km run.
“This is the largest one I’ve ever done. This is going to be a tough one.”
Mr Awwad has a large group supporting him..
Now remarried, his wife Kawthar Awwad and their six children are cheering him on.
He is a mathematics teacher so he aims to inspire his students, some of whom have been completing their HSC recently.
“I am a school teacher and the head of mathematics; these students go to big extents to study and try to achieve for their own results,’’ he said.
“But also here’s a teacher putting in the effort to try and achive something in their life too.”
A rigorous training schedule has been maintained for him to be ready for such a big event.
He has a strength and conditioning coach and regularly runs, swims and cycles at length during training.
He has also entered a number of long discipline-specific events that stretch him such and has completed an Olympic length triathlon.
To finish will be special.
“The actual medal that I get I will hang around his neck,’’ he said.
