Bradley finishes the World Ironman championships in Kona, Hawaii

Contributed Photos – Scott Bradley competes in the cycling portion of the 2024 Men’s Ironman World Championships at Kona, Hawaii last month.

Lyndonville native Scott Bradley’s ambition to compete in and complete the two most prestigious full distance triathlons in the world is now history.

Back in 2020 Bradley was one of 12 professional triathletes invited to compete in the Norseman Extreme Triathlon World Championship in Norway. The Covid pandemic caused the race to be cancelled.

Bradley competes in the marathon portion of the World Championships.

He then chose to not use his allocated slot in 2021 and finally raced in the Norseman in August of 2022. In that year he placed 23rd out of 239 participants and was the top finisher from the United States out of the 14 who took part in the race.

In giving up his Pro Card at the end of 2021, Bradley’s goal was to qualify for the Ironman World Championships, the penultimate triathlon in all of triathlon racing and that he did by finishing 4th in his Age Group at Ironman Chattanooga in 2023.

The 2024 Men’s Ironman World Championships took place in Kona, Hawaii, on October 26th where the run is known as one of the most brutal in the world with the heat and humidity taking their toll along the run course which winds its way among the island’s lava fields.

This year 2390 men from 85 countries started the race. These participants were the top finishers from each age group from Ironman races around the world over the past year. The competition is extraordinary.

Bradley came out of the water from his 2.4-mile swim in, for him, a solid 59:52. This placed him in 63rd position in his 40-44 Age Group out of the group’s 310 starters. The swim was made more challenging this year as there were jellyfish along the swim course and Scott, like many of the competitors, was stung 3 or 4 times with lasting effects for the entire race.

Heading out onto the 112-mile bike course, Bradley’s strongest discipline of the three, he started to move up the 40-44 leaderboard. Finishing the bike in 4:46:22, he found himself in 23rd position when he dismounted his bike.

Then the 26.2-mile marathon run for Scott was every bit as brutal as it is for so many. His target time on the run was in the 3-hour 10 to 20 minute range. His body didn’t cooperate. He ended up running a 3:53:32.

Bradley finished with a time of 9:48:53 for the day. This time placed him 75th in his Age Group (top 25%) and 502nd overall (top 21%). He was 8th in his Age Group and 63rd overall for those from the United States.

Having now completed these two “Bucket List” races, it is now time for Bradley to take a well-deserved break and decide what is in his triathlon future.

Scott is the Director of Career and Technical Education at the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES in Auburn, NY.