World Traveler-Turned-Triathlete

The triathlon is Park Dong-sik’s (40) lifetime challenge.

Park who quit his job in 1995, left for India, and traveled to all around the world for eight years, thought of a triathlon he saw on TV in his high school as his travels got routine.

He recalled the touching moment when Julie Moss, a female participant in a Hawaii race in 1982 fell down many times and in the end, passed the finishing line, and he registered for a health club and swimming pool membership right away.

Until then, he didn’t exercise formally. But after a half year of persistent efforts, he took part in the Korea Triathlon Race and ran the whole course. After two years, this year, he ran the whole course of the Challenge Cup and was officially recognized as an iron-man.

The Challenge Cup recognizes a course completion when one finishes a 24-hour run (spring), triathlon (summer), 100km canoe trial (fall) and 100km cross-country ski trial (winter) for a year. Until now, only three people including Park have completed the course.

Park said, “Whenever I see people at the finish line who ran the whole triathlon course without giving up, tears fill up in my eyes. The emotion I feel at the moment supports my daily life.”

The New Year’s goal of Park, whose motto is that there is no failure as long as one doesn’t give up, is going over the Himalayas on his bicycle.

More and more ordinary people are trying to get extreme experience. They are crazy about ultra marathons, which extend beyond the standard marathon running distance, and are into extreme sports such as desert marathons and triathlons.

Hong Dae-sik, professor of psychology at SungShin Women’s University, said that the more social leeway people have, the more people try to have fun consuming physical energy in a different way than others.

peacechaos@donga.com