An endurance athlete’s quest to break a barrier in one of the toughest sports is the subject of a years-long documentary.
Two-time Ultraman world champion Richard Thompson is the focus of a project by Caloundra cinematographer Cody Osborne and director/producer Marcus Cobbledick.
They started filming his roller-coaster journey in 2019.
“There’s been a lot of highs and lows,” Cody said. “He’s an incredible person, one of my heroes.”
Ultraman races are held over three days. The first day includes a 10km ocean swim and 145km bike ride, the second day a 276km ride and the third day an 84km run.
Richard won the world title in record-breaking time at Noosa in 2018 and the film crew were on hand to witness him win again at Hawaii recently, on November 27.
He clocked 22hr13min38sec, to finish 59 minutes ahead of second place.
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“The amount of adversity he’s gone through over the past year and a bit has been incredible,” Cody said.
“His mindset to train, compete and win – in convincing fashion – has been incredible to watch and document.”
But the story doesn’t end there.
The documentary, with the working title ‘Limitless’, follows Richard’s quest to break the 20hr barrier at next year’s world championships in Noosa.
“We’ve basically filmed him training on the Sunshine and also competing at Hawaii and we’ll build towards next year and hopefully a sub-20-hour time,” Cody said.
“It’s exciting to see his time (in Hawaii) was convincing.”
Richard had to do it the hard way at Kona though. He battled a damaged rotator cuff to be seventh after the swim, before working his way up the standings during the bike and run legs.
“It’s been a tough few days, but I have really backed my mental and physical training to get me over the line,” Richard said.
The Kiel Mountain resident reflected on his endurance career, which included him stepping back from the sport after winning the world title four years ago.
“I really thought my Ultraman career was done and dusted a few years back but with the encouragement from my team and a two-year COVID hiatus really inspired me to give this another crack,” he said.
“This event has become my life.
“I gave up working as a lawyer to focus on this goal and thanks to the support from my incredible sponsors I was able to focus fully on reclaiming my world title in Hawaii.
“The next major ultra-triathlon event is in Noosa next year and I’ve committed to pushing myself even harder to take that title.
“But for now, the recovery starts and we’ll start planning for Noosa in the new year.
“I’m just very keen to get home now and see my three little boys and share this victory with them.”
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