Atlanta's Man of Iron

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Photo credit Bill Greineisen and Rich Cruse

When we last talked with Scott Rigsby, Atlanta’s double-amputee triathlete, he was preparing to attempt the unthinkable — completing the Ford Ironman USA in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in June 2007. But during the race, Rigsby’s bicycle chain broke, sending him crashing to the ground and shattering his dreams of becoming the first double amputee to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and then run a marathon. But in October, Rigsby dusted himself off and tried again — only this time, his attempt took him to Kona, Hawaii, home of the Ford Ironman World Championship and the sport’s most difficult course. Despite the incredible odds, Rigsby shocked the world by crossing the finish line.

For our special Triathlon Issue, Competitor Southeast sat down with Rigsby to talk about his journey thus far… and the finish lines he’s running toward now.

Competitor Magazine: Tell us about what happened at Coeur d’Alene.

Scott Rigsby: Well, the day of the race, the conditions were pretty bad. The lake was rough and the harbor patrol told us that the water was so treacherous we could skip the swim portion of the race. I was like, ‘Heck, I didn’t train a year and a half not to do the full race.’ So I hopped in the water and made it through the swim before the cutoff. Then I got on my bike, and the course was very hilly and technical. At Mile 60, my bike chain came off and lodged itself between the big ring and the little ring. My pedals locked, and I literally flipped over the handlebars and landed on my back at 20-plus miles per hour. I think there’s still a dent out there! But I got up — I had so much adrenaline going — and I fixed the chain and road 52 more miles, making the cutoff by 10 minutes. What I didn’t know was that I had fractured a vertebra in my back.

I put my legs on and started running, but I was in excruciating pain. At Mile 11, my coach, [Atlanta pro triathlete] Carole Sharpless, said, ‘Hey, we’re not sure what you’re doing to your back. Let’s call it a day.’ I had qualified for Kona through the Ironman lottery system, and I didn’t want to hurt my chances of doing that race by trying to go for the finish line at this one. An ambulance came and picked me up off the course. As I was being driven away, I was more determined than ever to go to Kona and do the unthinkable.

Through the kindness of Atlantans like Scott Johnson, who met Rigsby during a swim at Mary Alice Park and offered to help him with his fundraising efforts, Rigsby was able to fly to Kona 23 days before the race so he could train on the actual course. Atlanta Athlete Karen O’Riordan also arrived early to train for the race and offered to let Rigsby crash on the futon in her hotel room so he could cut costs. The faith Atlanta’s endurance community had in Rigsby, coupled with the attention his story attracted in Kona, made the reality of Rigsby’s task all the more daunting.

CM: So many people in Hawaii and at home knew your story, and you were honored with the Ford Ironman Everyday Hero Award the night before the race. What was all that attention like?

SR: It became this 800-pound gorilla on my back. All the hype created enormous pressure — I knew I had to finish the race. So I said a simple prayer: ‘God, open up the doors for me and I’ll run through them.’

CS: Tell us about race day in Kona.

SR: The whole day was very surreal. I’ve watched the Ford Ironman World Championship every year on TV, and suddenly I was the one in the water when the cannon sounded off. About 400 yards into the race, I got kicked in my right eye — it was swollen shut. But as bad as that was, I still finished the swim faster than I did in Coeur d’Alene.

I hopped on my bike, and about two hours in, I realized I wasn’t hot, even though the heat index was well above 100 degrees. It started to concern me; I thought something was wrong with me physically. But then I heard this voice say to me, ‘It’s because you’re wrapped in the shadows of my love.’ I saw this vision of these wings above me and I started weeping. I mean, I had tears and snot everywhere. Finally, I was like, ‘Get it together, Man.’ I felt like God had heard all these prayers from all these people who had invested in me, and I knew my church (Buckhead Church) was praying for me. Everyone knew I was in the hardest race of my life.

At Mile 78 of the bike portion of the race, Rigsby started battling Kona’s famous headwinds and struggled to continue pedaling. He started to wonder if he would be able to finish.

CS: Those headwinds had to be panic-inducing.

SR: I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ I knew I couldn’t control the wind or the heat or the soreness in my legs, so I decided to focus on what I could control — my heart rate. I eased up the tension on the bike and my heart rate started to go down. It’s amazing how when your attitude gets right everything gets right. Shortly after that, the wind started to die down and I picked up speed. I beat the bike cutoff by at least 30 minutes.

Part of the issue of running with artificial legs is that the skin covered by the prosthetic sockets isn’t exposed to air, so sweat doesn’t evaporate; it pools. Rigsby needed to stop and dump the sweat from his legs every four miles, but doing so slowed him down. At Mile 16, the event’s run-course director told Rigsby that if he didn’t pick up his pace, he wouldn’t make it to the finish line in time.

CS: When you were told you had to move faster to make the cutoff, what did you do?

SR: I made a decision that I wasn’t going to take off my legs again; I didn’t care how much sweat built up or how many blisters I got. I ran the last miles of the race 25 percent faster than I had earlier in the race, and it was the most pain I’ve ever inflicted on myself in my life.

What got me through it was thinking about how I wanted to take my ordinary life, place it in the hands of an extraordinary God and change the world. I believed there was a plan for me.

When I crossed the finish line, I had friends and my support team there, but all I could do was look for the closest place to lie down. People asked me what it felt like to make history. I felt like Neil Armstrong after a bar fight.

Today, Rigsby is still training full-time, with a short-term goal of completing St. Anthony’s Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Florida, in late April. He’s also entering the lottery to return to Kona’s gruesome course in October, saying he thinks his presence there will continue to bring hope to amputees.

With that same goal in mind, Rigsby recently partnered with organizations like World Vision and the Amputee Coalition of America to speak to everyone from physically challenged children to wounded veterans about the power of dreams.

CS: It seems like you’re really using your platform to get the word out that physically challenged people can accomplish nearly anything they set their minds to.

SR: Yeah, I’m not just sitting back and thinking about racing. I want to tell people that even if you have what seems like insurmountable odds, you can accomplish your goals. Hopefully, my completing an Ironman inspires everyone from the couch potato to the kid who was told he might not ever run; I want to help people reach their dreams.

Scott Rigsby was recently honored with the Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award at the 16th Annual Competitor Magazine Endurance Sports Awards on February 2 in San Diego. 

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