By his own admission, Roger Brockenbrough of Mt. Lebanon wasn't much of an athlete as a young man. But he's gotten better with age.

Last Saturday Mr. Brockenbrough, 75, won his age group in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. The Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile open ocean swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a full marathon (26.2-mile) run, all conducted without a break.

This was the sixth Ironman for Mr. Brockenbrough, who was an engineer for U.S. Steel for 30 years. His first race was in 2000. He also finished first in his age bracket then (65-69).

"Each one is a little different," Mr. Brockenbrough said. "I was a little slow in the swim. I just made the cutoff time.

"The bike ride was tough," he said. "It's always very windy there. This year it was the headwinds that got us. It was also very hot. After the lava fields it was hitting over 100 degrees."

"I finally got off the bike, and had a full marathon to run. Running is my best event, but after the extra time in the water and the heat on the bike ride, I really didn't feel like running. But I ran all the way."

Mr. Brockenbrough finished the race in 14 hours and 47 minutes, first among 10 in his age group. His time for the swim was 2:12:52; for the bike ride, 7:18:47; and for the run, 5:00:47, plus about 15 minutes of transition time between events.

Mr. Brockenbrough caught the triathalon bug from his son, John, a mechanical engineer in Murrysville.

"My son was always an avid biker," he recalled. "When he was 16 he took off on a couple-of-thousand-mile trip to Canada. He's also a really good runner."

A roommate got John Brockenbrough involved in triathalons. Then he encouraged his father to try them.

"Once I got into it I found I really enjoyed the training," Roger Brockenbrough said.

John Brockenbrough competed in the Ironman with his father. He finished 53rd among 101 in his age group (50-54).

"That's really good, considering he was really sick just a few days before the race," his father said.

In the month preceding the Ironman, Roger Brockenbrough finished first in his age bracket in two other major races.

The International Triathlon Union championship held in Australia Sept. 12 consisted of a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run. The ITU's World Duathlon, held in Concord, N.C., Sept. 26, consisted of a 10k run, a 40k bike ride, and a 5k run.

Though he wins a lot, Roger Brockenbrough says he doesn't race to win. His goal is to improve his time. From his first Ironman in 2000 to his fourth in 2005, he cut his total race time by more than an hour.

Mr. Brockenbrough trains virtually year-round for the various competitions he enters. In a typical week, he'll run 8-10 miles three times a week, bike for 75 miles (a 50 miler and a 25 miler), and swim two or three times a week at the South Hills Jewish Community Center.

"I usually swim about 3,000 yards per workout," he said.

The total time he spends working out is roughly 10 hours per week, Mr. Brockenbrough said.

His wife, Nancy, "thinks I'm a little crazy," he said. "She's encouraging me to find something a little less strenuous to do."

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