When Karl Snowden was knocked off his bike by a car, his bike took a bashing but it did not stop his determination to compete for Iron Māori.

Karl trained with health promoter Delane Mackie for weeks leading up to the Iron Māori event held last month. The two are dedicated models for a healthy lifestyle, training through high intensity workouts that Delane runs twice a week.

"I’m impressed by my bro Karl. He started training, running, swimming and riding his flash bike," Delane says.

But Karl wanted specific triathlete training so that he could stand tall at the start line. That’s when he met Triathlon Coach Ben Chidgey who trained Karl for 18 weeks.

"I was impressed by Karl’s self-determination. I had to put the brakes on a few times because he did not know when to stop. I mean it’s a good skill to have but sometimes I was concerned he was either going to hurt himself or burn himself out," he says.

Karl started his journey to improve his fitness 18 months ago with Delane’s Kai Nutrition team. He started doing events to keep motivated in between training. Karl’s first ever event was the Contact Tri series in Takapuna earlier this year where he finished the 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run in 46 minutes and 12 seconds.

The Ironmāori event aims to encourage people to make healthier lifestyle choices. The event began three years ago and is proving to be very popular, attracting more than 1500 contenders at this year’s race in Napier. Karl completed the 2km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run in just under 6 hours.

"I am very pleased with the outcome. His time was fantastic!" Ben says.

Karl is now determined to race in the New Zealand Ironman event in 2013.