"If you think you can, you will; if you tell yourself, you can’t, you won’t. It’s as simple as that!”

These were the words of inspiration following the announcement of Ian Crafter’s recent honour as local Sportsperson of the Year.

Ian has to be the most positive human being in our city, something he attributes to “having a positive mindset”.

He then makes a huge admission for a bloke who is regarded as an icon of local water sports: “I couldn’t swim a stroke ‘til I was 50; couldn’t even save myself,” Ian revealed.

“I have completed 25 Ironman events since I decided to give it a go,” Ian revealed.

“I’m still the last person out of the water but I get on my bike, then go for a run and all the time I am reminding myself I can do it,” he added.

Ian’s performances have earned him the status of an “Ironman Legend” in Busselton, Western Australia where he has just completed his 11th race.

His race resume also shows Cairns, Port Macquarie (multiple times), Germany (with 5000 starters) and, the most gruelling of all, the Hawaiian Ironman.

“It is the pinnacle for all who compete,” Ian recalls.

“We swim 3.8km – or more, if you get picked up in a swell and are washed away from the buoys, then a 180km ride through the lava fields; the heat is incredible, and the pungent sulphur smell can overcome you.”

Ian says that the first 160km is the easy part, then the reality of what is ahead kicks in!

“At that mark, you think, ‘I’ve only got 20km to go and then all I’ve got to do is run a marathon, 42.2km. Then I’m done!’” he recalls.

How does he do it?

“You just have to have that mindset,” Ian believes.

“There are a few of us who know how to do it, including my 95-year-old Japanese mate who keeps on putting in the paces.”

Ian is also a parkrun participant, official, an urger, and a mentor, and sees lots of young athletes on the course when he is out training.

He told me he can usually pick those who will make it, right from his first sighting of them: “I can identify them fairly quickly, ‘who will’ and ‘who won’t’.

“There are five legs to an Ironman really – you’ve got the swim, you’ve got the bike and you've got the run,” he counts off.

“You've got nutrition, so you have to get that right, and you’ve gotta have that mindset.”

Ian says you might have some of those five attributes, but you need all of them to succeed.

“You might have three, but not the other two, so you've got to combine them all and you’ve just gotta’ be positive.

“I know that some people get negative and sink into the ‘can’t do’, but anybody who’s ‘light up’, I can work with them.”

Ian says there are six competitors who have registered for Busselton in December, with the formula for success quite simple and easy to see.

“It’s in the eyes really,” Ian said.

“You’ve just gotta’ believe,” he concluded.

Ian Crafter: a legend in Ironman; a legend in life!