{"id":62264,"date":"2025-12-05T22:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T22:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62264\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T22:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T22:09:16","slug":"whats-it-like-to-actually-win-an-ironman-triathlon-just-ask-west-brighton-resident-reilly-walsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62264\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s it like to actually win an IRONMAN triathlon? Just ask West Brighton resident Reilly Walsh"},"content":{"rendered":"

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA \u2014 As Reilly Walsh approached the finish line and the coveted banner that was stretched across it, even he couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

The former St. Peter\u2019s basketball star couldn\u2019t help but put his hands around his head, with his jaw dropping, as if to say, \u2018is this really happening?\u2019<\/p>\n

Yes, it did happen. <\/p>\n

Walsh placed first overall among a field of nearly 2,000 competitors at IRONMAN Florida early last month. The ex-Jaques Award winner is believed to be the first Staten Islander to win the grueling triathlon, which includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in shock, for sure,\u2019’ said the 28-year-old Walsh, who played Division I basketball at the New Jersey Institute of Technology after graduating from St. Peter\u2019s in 2015. \u201dYou really have to be in good shape to pull something like that off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a lot of things to go right and a little bit of luck because the day is so long and something can go wrong, but fortunately it didn\u2019t.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Walsh\u2019s winning time was a sizzling 8:25.33. He finished the swim in 54:35, the bike in 4:18.46 and the run \u2014 which is actually a marathon \u2014 in 3:02.45.<\/p>\n

\"ApproachingIn this image taken from a video, West Brighton resident Reilly Walsh holds his head in disbelief as he crosses the finish line at IRONMAN Florida in Panama City Beach, Fla.., on Nov. 1, 2025.(Courtesy of John Walsh)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou prep for months and months \u2014 even years \u2014 but you get to perform on that one day,\u2019’ said Walsh, who will now prepare for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii on Oct. 10, 2026. \u201cAnd you\u2019ve got to perform to have a chance to win.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Walsh, who competed in the male 25-29-year-old age group, took part in his first full distance IRONMAN since competing at the 2022 World Championship in Kona<\/a> in October of that year. Months prior to his first World Championship appearance, he broke his arm and suffered nerve damage in his leg following a bike crash at IRONMAN Utah. Basically, he needed time to recover.<\/p>\n

He opted to go full throttle again at the beginning of the present year and he competed in the IRONMAN 70.3 Musselman <\/a>in Geneva, N.Y. last summer. The 70.3 competition, in essence, is a half IRONMAN. Walsh said you can\u2019t compare the two competitions.<\/p>\n

When Walsh competed in Kona in 2022, he placed 82nd overall with a time of 10:00.57. At the time, he broke the Staten Island record previously held by Tim McCauley (10:33.07), according to Staten Island Elite Track & Field co-founder Denise Boccia.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, he shaved 1:35.24 off his previous clocking when he competed in Panama City Beach.<\/p>\n

How\u2019d he do it?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of endurance. Putting in a lot of time and working toward building a certain kind of fitness,\u2019’ said Walsh, who is an analyst for RiskVal Financial Solutions. \u201dIt\u2019s not magic. It\u2019s mundane training every day and everything just adds up.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Walsh\u2019s parents, John and Christine, made the trip to Panama City Beach and marveled over their son\u2019s continued success in IRONMAN.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristine and I are very proud of Reilly for not only what he has accomplished, but his perseverance through multiple challenges throughout this journey,\u2019’ said John Walsh, who was the starting point guard for St. Peter\u2019s 1982-83 CHSAA AA city championship team. He\u2019s currently the Dean of Academics at the New Brighton school. \u201d(Reilly\u2019s) physical abilities are matched only by his mental toughness. It has truly been a pleasure to be a witness to his success.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Walsh now plans to prepare for his next excursion to the Aloha State with an eye toward earning a professional card.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty happy and grateful (to finish so well in Florida). I\u2019m surprised, for sure, because I know not a lot of people can say they finished first,\u2019’ said Walsh. \u201dI want to keep challenging myself. I still have a lot of passion and fire and I\u2019m going to build up for the World Championship for the next year.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Walsh said there are several ways to gain your professional card, including competing in a race with a professional field.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA \u2014 As Reilly Walsh approached the finish line and the coveted banner that was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-62264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}