Our very own Swim Instructor, Matt Roeder will be competing in the 2023 World Championship Men’s Race on September 10, 2023 in Nice, France. Matt will swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles! 

For Matt, the journey to Ironman races began with an existing love for endurance challenges. The structured training, the sense of accomplishment after every run. Having completed two Philadelphia marathons and even an ultra race (31 miles), he sought to push his boundaries even further to this ultimate triathlon challenge.

Week after week, Matt embarked on 7-9 workouts with only one rest day. Double sessions became a norm, and each session demanded an unwavering focus. When we sat down with Matt for this feature he shared, “the volume for [training] this week has me working out for a total of 16 hours between 3 swims, 4 bikes, and 4 runs.”

Proper nutrition, equipment, and personal support systems play vital roles. To build up to the Ironman event, Matt participated in smaller triathlons, acclimating himself to open water swimming and seamless transitions between disciplines. These races were stepping stones, refining his technique and enhancing his confidence!

“My goals for the 2023 Ironman Nice World Championships in September is to beat my previous time of 10:45:55 and to finish within the same time difference of the leader of the race as I did back in the Maryland 2022 race, which was 2.5 hours behind the leader. It would be awesome to also get a blazing fast marathon time of sub 3 hours which would be close to beating my marathon personal best, but after all that biking and swimming it might be out of my capabilities.”  

As we celebrate Matt’s journey to the 2023 Ironman World Championship Men’s Race, we extend our best wishes for success. You can stream Matt’s race via NBC when it’s happening on September 10, 2023. You can also support Matt through donations to help him cover traveling expenses, lodging, competition fees, bike transport, and more on his GoFundMe page.