On February 13, 2021, Victoria’s premier Dan Andrews announced a snap, five-day “short, sharp circuit-breaker” coronavirus lockdown, the state’s third lockdown since the deadly Covid-19 pandemic arrived on our shores a year ago.

While lockdowns aren’t easy, they have meant that thankfully Victoria is currently Covid-free.

What it did mean to David Morgan is that Geelong’s Ironman 70.3 triathlon, which was due to take place on February 21, was postponed until Sunday March 28 – the day before David was due to fly to Nepal on the first leg of his journey to Mount Everest.

But our intrepid mountaineer wasn’t fazed, and decided he would still compete in the Ironman challenge, which requires swimming 1.9 kilometres, cycling 90 kilometres and running 21 kilometres.

There was one slight problem in David’s intention to compete in this popular, yet tough, triathlon event.

“Swimming in the ocean was foreign to me. In fact, to be honest I couldn’t really swim. Nor had I ever ridden a road bike. Not only that, I’d never watched a triathlon event, let alone entered one,” said David.

“I tried to learn to swim via self-education while attending my children’s swimming lessons – with little success. In fact, my partner watched in disbelief as the children’s swimming teacher encouraged me to `reach for the edge.’ I continued to thrash about undeterred.

“I realised it was time to face up to the fact that I needed help.”

David sought help from Ken Purves from Optimal Strength Coaching in Williamstown in the hope he might learn these additional skills before the event.

David’s preparation before the Ironman 70.3 included three swims, each around two-kilometres; three bike rides, two of which over three-hours long; an additional 250-kilometre bike ride around port Phillip Bay, and plenty of running.

On March 28 in Geelong in a rough, choppy ocean, David’s Ironman 70.3 swim set a personal best 39:09 – not bad for someone who could barely swim – and he completed the cycling leg in 2:51:49.

David then donned his Diabetes Australia top for the 21 kilometre-long run.

“While the Ironman 70.3 is not one of the marathons included in the 7×7 Challenge, any exposure for Diabetes Australia is always well worthwhile,” he said.

Tired but happy, David headed home after the event to continue packing the 40-odd kilograms of luggage required for his Mount Everest trek, before his journey to Kathmandu, Nepal – and ultimately the summit of the world’s highest mountain – the following day