It is official – Scott Foreman is a legend. A legend in the ironman world.

Scott was awarded 20-year legend status at the annual Ironman Australia event held in Port Macquarie on May 5, and he’s pretty stoked about it.

Scott has been competing in triathlons around Australia since the early 1990s and ironman events since 2001. Like a triathlon, an ironman event consists of a run, bike ride and swim, but to be considered an ironman, each must be a particular distance – 3.8km swim, 180km ride and 42.2km run.

The Port Macquarie event is a highlight of the ironman calendar, this year attracting 921 competitors, with Scott finishing with an overall time of 15:21:29 and ranking 836. He completed the swim in 1:13:35, the bike in 7:38:20 and the run in 6:17:06.

The swim is held in the Hastings River, the cycle encompasses Port Macquarie and Pembrooke and includes rolling hills and ocean views, and the run is a 4-lap course within the township with creek and river views.

A member of the Echuca Moama Triathlon Club, as part of his training schedule, Scott participates in club races during the triathlon season, swims in the heated pool, the river and Gunbower Creek, rides on the hills around Bendigo, and runs when and where he can.

An accomplished triathlete and ironman, having competed in 26 ironman races in Australia and internationally, Scott competes in triathlons when his hectic farm work schedule allows. Locally, he can claim the title of inaugural winner of the Cohuna Bridge to Bridge 6.5km fun run in 1995 and the inaugural triathlon in 1996.

Scott says that when he first started competing in ironman events, he had to qualify by first doing a half ironman event, sometimes travelling interstate for them. Nowadays, that requirement is no longer there.

“At the time I started in 2001, there was only one ironman in Australia, at Foster-Tuncurry. I did my first five races at Foster-Tuncurry, and I always had to qualify for that race. I’ve done 15 at Port Macquarie since it was moved there.”

Scott’s best time over his 20 Ironman Australia events is 09:20:06 in 2005. Now in his early fifties and 23 years since his first ironman, he admits his days of finishing in the top 30 are over, especially with his heavy farming commitments, but he is happy to still be able to complete the gruelling event.

Awarded at 5-year intervals, legends are assigned their own legend number upon achieving 10-year legend status. That legend number is theirs each year, and the number of completed Ironman Australia events is identified as a suffix to that number on their bib (for example, after completing this year’s race, Scott’s bib number next year will be 277-20).

Scott was presented with a large clock during the award presentations at Port Macquarie in May. “They always make a lot of the legends and look after them. They do a really good job of acknowledging people who have gone back to the same race.”

Scott plans to return for his 21st Ironman Australia event next May, dependant on what’s happening on the farm and how much training he can get in.

“It’ll be the shorter races in Echuca for a little while and then maybe, in April next year, there’s a Geelong half ironman, and then the Port Macquarie one is May. I daresay I’ll go to those ones again.”

Following the Ironman Australia in May, Scott jetted off to trek in Nepal, something he has done before and was keen to get back to.

Now, that’s showing real ironman status.

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 6 June 2024.