{"id":269868,"date":"2025-11-07T23:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T23:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/269868\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T23:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T23:59:10","slug":"essendon-great-david-zaharakis-aiming-for-hawaiian-ironman-as-he-prepares-for-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/269868\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon great David Zaharakis aiming for Hawaiian Ironman as he prepares for world championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Zaharakis, former Essendon<\/a> star and now an age-group competitor at the world triathlon<\/a> championships, laughs at the question.<\/p>\n

Does he dare to dream that in October next year he will race at the Hawaiian Ironman and be celebrating \u2014 at long last \u2014 the end of the Bombers\u2019 notorious 21-year stretch without an AFL finals win?<\/p>\n

\u201cOne might be more of a chance than the other, and I will let you work out which one,\u201d Zaharakis told AAP.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

He was speaking from Marbella in Spain, where Zaharakis will race early on Monday morning (AEDT) in the 35-39 age group at the Ironman 70.3 world championships.<\/p>\n

But his big goal comes next month. Zaharakis will try to qualify for Hawaii at the Ironman WA triathlon in Busselton, south of Perth.<\/p>\n

The Hawaii Ironman world championships are triathlon\u2019s pinnacle and he will need a massive race in Busselton to book his berth.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Essendon star David Zaharakis is now a keen age-group Ironman triathlete. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

Port Adelaide\u2019s Michael Wilson and West Coast\u2019s Beau Waters are other former AFL players who have raced at Kona, on Hawaii\u2019s Big Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to go sub-nine (hours) at Busselton \u2014 that\u2019s an ambitious goal, it\u2019s a big one,\u201d Zaharakis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying I will, but it\u2019s a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ironman is a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km marathon run. The 70.3 format is half those distances.<\/p>\n

A sub-nine race at Busselton would mean Zaharakis running the marathon in under three-and-a-half hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways when you speak to past players, they\u2019re saying \u2018what the hell are you doing – why are you doing this?\u2019\u201d Zaharakis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love competing and I knew that I wasn\u2019t finished competing when I finished playing footy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zaharakis, 35, retired in 2021 after 226 games for Essendon.<\/p>\n

In late 2022, friends suggested they start the new year with regular swimming as a fitness goal.<\/p>\n

By January 10, 2023, Zaharakis was the only one left at the pool. Soon after \u2014 and he\u2019s not quite sure how \u2014 that morphed to Ironman triathlon as a goal.<\/p>\n

While his new passion has flourished, Zaharakis has carried the ongoing despair of all life-long Essendon fans.<\/p>\n

Last month, when it looked like captain Zach Merrett might defect to Hawthorn, Zaharakis called the club a \u201crabble\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But within days, there were renewed signs of life at Tullarmarine. Andrew Welsh became president, the Bombers stuck to their guns at the trade table and Merrett stayed.<\/p>\n

Dean Solomon is now an assistant coach and Ted Richards has taken his place on the board. Welsh, Solomon and Richards are former players and all of their appointments have been well received.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes time to move the needle and I appreciate the club has made some tough calls, particularly over the last two years, in terms of their (playing) list,\u201d Zaharakis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am encouraged by the club\u2019s position. I love the fact that Welshy\u2019s president now, a former teammate of mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club\u2019s in the right direction, in terms of having to re-set, not topping up … but that takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He acknowledged it will be \u201cinteresting\u201d to watch how Merrett handles staying at the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be some relationships you have to mend … the thing with Zach, everyone knows he\u2019s the ultimate professional,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While he keeps close tabs on the game and his beloved Bombers, Zaharakis\u2019s focus now is triathlon – and getting to Kona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love, in 15 years\u2019 time, for people to not just remember me as an AFL player. \u2018You were a triathlete and an AFL player,\u2019\u201d is how he would like to be remembered.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Zaharakis, former Essendon star and now an age-group competitor at the world triathlon championships, laughs at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,11231,588,85,132296],"class_list":{"0":"post-269868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-essendon-bombers","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-triathlon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}