There are four types of triathlons and for Jasper’s Al Wilson, it is time for the toughest.

The ‘easier’ type is a 750 metre swim, 20 kilometre bike and five kilometre run. Wilson has already done three of those.

Then there is the Olympic distance, for, well, Olympians, and the Half-Ironman – a 1.8 kilometre swim, 90 kilometre bike and 21 kilometre run.

But Wilson only chose the half marathon as a warm up.

That would be too easy, so the multi-sport athlete chose the full Ironman race – a 3.8 kilometre swim, 180 kilometre bike and 42 kilometre run – held in Penticton, B.C., at the end of August.

Last year, Wilson and fellow Jasper athlete Richard Ireland volunteered at the Ironman, literally catching people at the finish line and helping them to food, water or medical staff. It was a motivating experience he said, and led to he and Ireland signing up for this year’s race.

So why would someone want to do this?

“Lots of things, I guess. Just to be fit, better than just running all the time because it’s cross training, so you get three things to do, and I guess less chance of injury. A lot of my friends in town have done them. What else, sort of a mid-life crisis thing because I turned 50 this year,” Wilson says.

His wife also finished the Penticton Ironman in 2001, where they met people from Team in Training, a group that trains to raise money for blood cancers and blood diseases – something Wilson could relate to.

One of the men who completed the Ironman back in 2001 had leukemia, which Wilson has had twice, and beat, thanks to a matching bone marrow transplant from his brother.

The other man, however, could not find a match, and died a year-and-a-half after the race. But not before Wilson contacted him through email.

“It was some inspiration, that’s part of it, and being healthy,” Wilson said. “I’ve had (leukemia) twice, and bounced back. So this is kind of an affirmation of really being healthy again, too, if you want it to look really philosophical,” adds Wilson.

Needless to say, Wilson has many reasons to enter this year’s Ironman, and he has the support in Jasper to do it as well.

“My wife has done it before, too. So I try and keep up to her as well, and she helps me along and keeps me motivated, she’s pretty good like that,” Wilson says.

He is also training under the supervision of personal trainer Todd Wolansky – an extreme sport athlete himself. Wilson has been training since January, and since then has completed a half marathon in Kelowna in March. He will enter a half-ironman in Calgary this month, which will be the biggest for Wilson to date.

As far as results go, Wilson’s goal is simply to finish the race in Penticton. He says the first time you do something like that, you never know how your body is going to react, so his goal is to complete it, hopefully around the 14 hour mark.

Competitors are given 17 hours to complete the multi-sport race, while pros typically finish in nine hours.

The goal of marathons and triathlons isn’t always to place well. For many people, completing the race has deeper meaning than their time; running for a cause, personal goals or fitness, or for a friend.

“At least they are doing it,” Wilson said. “They are doing more than 90 per cent of the population.”