“At 61, I started trying to be healthy.  I stayed off the medication and got out of the couch-potato syndrome.  Then everything just evolved….You have to push yourself.”

And push he did.  Cliff Eggink was the oldest ironman in the 2005 Ironman Arizona competition in April of 2005. 

A former CEO, Cliff didn’t stop being active when he retired at 55.  Instead he took up running.  It consumed him.  Eventually he added swimming and cycling.  At the suggestion of his wife Tatjana, also an ironman, the Egginks entered a short triathlon.  The rest is fascinating history!

Cliff entered his first Ironman triathlon in Switzerland in 2000.  With the swim down and 106 miles out on his bike, the bike abruptly stopped against a street car track.  Momentum carried Cliff right off the seat and into the hospital.  Not deterred, he raced in the 2001 California Ironman in 15 hours and 45 minutes.  He felt great!  

The Original Irongeezer uses his love of sport to stay healthy and motivate other senior athletes to choose a healthy lifestyle.  While racing, so many people would ask him about his secrets to fitness that he started his own website, www.irongeezer.com.

From the Irongeezer website:

“An IRONGEEZER ranges from baby boomer to ultrasenior. He is an eccentric "geezer." Far from being curmudgeonly, this geezer's eccentricity manifests in a passion for physical activity, involvement in a healthy lifestyle, which unfortunately sets him apart from many of his peer group. To this "geezer," we added a dash of "iron" for strength of mind and body to maintain a "hale and hardy" lifestyle amid an ever-increasing, slothful, unfit population. Welcome to all you Irongeezers and "Irongeezers-in-training," who may be new to this lifestyle, or just younger in age. (Don't worry we won't hold youth against you.)