PARAPLEGIC Rodolfo “Rudy” Fernandez is in heavy preparation for the upcoming Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii this coming October.

Fernandez will be among the 1,800 triathletes from various countries as one of the biggest challenges in the sporting world.

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“Ironman Hawaii is one of my biggest dreams which will be the defining moment in my career as an athlete,” Fernandez said in a text message Friday who was in Manila for an important matter.

Rudy said as of the moment, his focus is to land a decent finish in the Ironman challenge to inspire others especially those physically challenged individuals.

He added his October 12 sojourn in Hawaii will make him one of Asia's Ironman triathletes.

With his body in tip top shape, Fernandez said he will try to barge into the Guinness Book of World record aiming to accomplish what other one legged athletes achieved in the likes of Terry Fox of Canada and America's Bruce Jennings.

While there are thousands of triathlons around the world, The Ford Ironman World Championship is the one that truly defines the sport.

It all began at an Awards Ceremony for a relay running race in Honolulu in 1977. A group of local athletes discussed the idea of an endurance triathlon and combining three major events that already existed on the island.

It has since become triathlon's Super Bowl, Wimbledon, World Series, World Cup, and Tour de France, all rolled into one. What makes this event so unique is that "average" people get to compete alongside the best in the world.

Running and pedaling a bicycle hundred miles, propelling his body across high-water current strait can only be done by a one-legged superman.

But Rudy isn't a superman but what made him become so is his secret and self formulated principle in athletics.

"If you let your mind take control of your body, there's no reason why you couldn't do such an impressive performance as I did," Rudy said after completing his daily routine of climbing up the steep yet scenic Kennon Road.

A total of 14 excruciating feats Rudy has finished including the January 1996 Reader's Digest article as one of their "Heroes for Today."

Running and biking with an average of 40 kilometers (km) per day, this legendary sportsman who hails from Iloilo sprang up even before his leg was amputated. But fate had it. He even became more famous when he turned his disability into an asset.

A first of its kind in the country, Rudy could run, swim, and pedal a bike for miles using his left leg which luckily survived in a 1975 grenade explosion at Allegro Theatre in Iloilo City in 1979.

"When I lost my leg, I told myself this is not the end of my world, so much so that this is not the end of my sporting achievements," Rudy said who rose to popularity as long distance runner since his high school days in an earlier interview with Sun*Star.

Tens-of-thousands of triathletes have been trying their luck for the coveted Ironman spot every year but only 1,800 succeed, and one of them is Rudy.

Fernandez, will try his luck with 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and a 26.2 mile marathon run through tough ocean waves, and challenging lava-covered terrain in Hawaii. (Roderick Osis)