Iona man trains to complete Hawaii Iron Man course

23 years ago, an Iona man was diagnosed with Guillian Barre syndrome and paralyzed from the neck down.

Rod Hutchins has had 21 surgeries, 2 knees scoped, 2 hip replacements and a knee replacement, and that is not everything he’s been through.

Saturday he completed The Great Snake River Tri-Athlon in Idaho Falls placing 3rd.

Rod Hutchins crossed the finish line taking third place in his age group in the sprint tri-athlon.

But getting to this point, has been 23 years in the making.

“Over 23 plus years ago I was paralyzed from the waist down, I was going to Colorado, I got really sick over the next thirty days, I went to the hospital I was diagnosed with Guillian Barre” Hutchins says.

Hutchins made a goal, a goal he says that would be bigger than the challenge itself.

“To complete the iron man in Kona, Hawaii on the iron man course in my own race” says Hutchins.

He could barely walk at that time, 23 years ago, and needed plenty of other things done to help fix him up.

“Five doctors were put together, and in nine months we did nine surgeries. We had both hips replaced, both knees scoped, one knee replaced, a hiatal hernia, I ultimately had a spinal stimulator stuck in my back, and all that was due to the virus I had” said Hutchins.

As Rod got better, he needed a way to attack the goal he had set for himself and reached out to local businesses to support him in his journey.

Despite Rod’s positive nature, some were a little skeptical.

“It’s hard to believe how positive he is. I was taken aback, I was like is this guy for real, is he legitimately this gung-ho and determined to do it because we see a lot of people who are like that” says Gray Augustus, owner of Personal Best Performance.

The manager of Bill’s Bike and Run, Doug Swanson says, “I thought he was a little crazy. Scheduled a meeting with us and I have to tell you the first thing I thought is that wasn’t the guy that was competing in the iron man, I thought, this must be the guy who is representing the guy competing in the iron man.”

But it didn’t take long for his infectious enthusiasm to sell his goal, and be a win for the community.

“You could tell that he had a charisma, and a focus, he had a drive that was real.” says Swanson.

“It’s been really cool, because after we first got to know Rod, we were really excited, with Bill’s Bike we see a lot of people that say they can’t do something, that or they’re intimidated that are already into the sport, so to have someone like Rod who is so gung-ho and so willing to share his experience with everybody, we just got excited about what it was going to do for the community” said Augustus.

As Rod trained for his goal, he became an inspiration to everyone he came in contact with.

Fellow Tri-Athlete Takara Taylor says, “He’s the most positive, happy, just awesome man, that inspires everybody”

“It’s fun to work with rod because he wants to just get things done, when he literally falls off his bike, he gets back up blood and all, he keeps going and that’s super amazing” says Mike Taylor, who is currently helping train Rod.

His social media director Becky Sampson says “Rod’s always been someone that has inspired me to be better, to always look for the positive in things, even though life has been so difficult, to always get yourself back up and keep going.”

With Rod’s team in place and friends by his side, it seems like no hurdle in his path will stop him from going to Kona, Hawaii next year.

Everything he is working towards is getting him excited for this opportunity.

“It’s a pretty huge task at hand. I’m just flat out excited about just the chance to do that. Now for me its not a chance, it’s done. I’ve seen me crossing with the iron dream team, that finish line, millions of times over the years as I lay in a hospital bed or I’ve been in physical therapy or I’ve been sick. So yeah, I’m pretty excited for where we are, and I’m excited for what’s ahead,” says Hutchins.

While Rod is achieving this goal, he wants to help others as well.

“I guess what I want to do, I want to give everybody who has a story a voice and let them know that there is a team out there that can help them, and I and the Iron Dream Team are more than willing to help and mentor process for them.”

Rod will not be a competitor in the iron man course in April in Kona Hawaii, but he will run and complete the course in his own race.

The Iron Dream Team does have Tri Training groups every Tuesday night and you can find a link for that information at www.irondreamteam.com.