Craig Alexander came fifth on Sunday in his last full ironman race, the Asia-Pacific championship. Source: Michael Klein / News Corp Australia
CRAIG Alexander has not exactly retired from Iron Man triathlon, but the time is right to invite debate on where he sits among the great Australian sportsmen of recent years.
It's a tricky question because as popular as it has become, this gruelling torture test is still not quite mainstream and champions such as Alexander tend to fly slightly under the radar because they train a lot and race relatively infrequently, mostly overseas.
But within the sport, "Crowie" has been a superstar of the highest order.
In Melbourne on Sunday, he raced the full Iron Man for the last time, finishing fifth in the Asia-Pacific championship race and then finding himself unable to hold back tears as he announced his 40-year-old body had decided enough was enough.
Craig Alexander goes down the Eastlink tunnel during the Asia Pacific Ironman on Sunday. Source: News Corp Australia
The 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42km run, which have to be completed in about eight hours in elite competition, is probably orthodox sport's most demanding challenge, especially as you get older.
"Impressive" doesn't do justice to his mastery of it.
Alexander won the world championship on the Hawaiian island of Kona three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and was second in 2007 and fourth in 2012.
In his third win he took 12 seconds off the record, finishing in 8:03.56, and at the inaugural Asia-Pacific race three years ago, which he also won, he broke eight hours for the first time _ a feat Melbourne sports fans might be waiting a long time to see repeated.
He has also won the 70.3 — or half-distance — world championship twice and been runner-up once. Having won a 70.3 in Geelong recently, and with the urge to race till not quite purged from his ultra-competitive psyche, he figures he can keep doing those, with the world titles in Canada in September a possibility.
Alexander: "I'm comfortable with the decision because I race to win and to perform." Source: News Corp Australia
In other words, he isn't about to go "cold turkey" on the sport that has been his life, but readily concedes that its time to wind down.
He has three kids — the youngest, Lani May, was born just before last year's Melbourne race — and business interests that include a year-old coaching project which bore exciting fruit when his protege Paul Matthews finished second on Sunday.
"There is a bit of sadness knowing that for whatever reason — diminishing ability or diminishing time — I am not able to compete at that level now," he said yesterday.
"But I'm comfortable with the decision because I race to win and to perform, and if I can't do it 100 per cent what's the point?
Alexander won the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon three times and set a course-record time in Oahu. Source: Supplied
"My overwhelming emotion is gratitude — I've been helped by a lot of great people who have steered me in the right direction."
As he prepared for the Melbourne race last year, in which he finished third, he told the Herald Sun he was determined not to embarrass himself by failing to recognise his use-by date.
"I'm certainly not turning up just to collect appearance fees," he said. "I race to win. And when I can't do that no-one will have to give me a boot in the bum to move on. I'll be gone."
While that's not unambiguously the case — an Iron Man spokesman said there were no plans, yet, to formally salute him because he is not fully retired — a round of applause is timely for a pleasant, popular character whose career can legitimately be labelled "great."
ron.reed@news.com.au
Twitter: @Reedrw
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