Samuel Whitmore, a Lakewood resident and owner of Bag and String Wine Merchants, successfully completed the 140.1-mile Florida Ironman Course on Nov. 4.

In December 2017, Sam, his father-in-law Dr. Robert Berke of Westfield, and his three brothers- in-law, Jon Berke of Toronto, Jonathan Knisely of Denver and Fredrick Larmore of Denver all registered for the Florida Ironman originally planned for Nov. 3 in Panama City, Florida. It was Dr. Berke’s fifth Ironman race while the other four were going to attempt to join him as finishers of this unique club of endurance athletes since only 1/10,000th of the world’s population complete this event each year.

The group kept in contact via social media in order to support each other. The final event is grueling — a 2.4-mile swim, followed by 112-mile bike race, finishing with a full 26.25-mile marathon run that all must be completed in 17 hours. However, the preparation is also exhaustive since longer and longer training sets are needed in order to be fully ready, both physically and mentally. Although all of them had work responsibilities, Sam also was a single dad of two young boys for the good part of each week because his wife Metivia (Berke) had just graduated from medical school and entered a Family Practice Residency in Buffalo during July 2018.

As most know, on Oct. 10, Panama City was virtually destroyed by Hurricane Michael which was devastating to the residents of that city but also created the potential for cancellation of the race. Then Ironman USA announced that the venue was moved to Haines City, Florida and the date moved to Nov. 4. Jon and Fredrick had to drop out and the three remaining competitors frantically made new travel and lodging arrangements. Bikes and gear from Chautauqua County were ferried by car with support crew Jennifer Berke and Jan Kagarice. Sam, his two boys and Dr. Berke as well as the remaining Denver contingent (Knisely and wife, Celeste) arrived by plane. Two days before the race, while out on their bikes, the three athletes narrowly missed a tornado touchdown in the area.

Race day began at about 4 a.m. with a quick meal and then off to get “marked up” (numbers on arms and ages on legs). The beach was a sea of green swim caps and then, with the electronic timer chiming continuously, it was into the water of Lake Eve at about 6:40 a.m., four at a time, 2,800 athletes in all.

This race is not for the faint of heart. It has moments of truth for each athlete, a time when you are tested and all the training is put face-to-face with your greatest doubts and fears. For Sam, that moment came very early as he found himself in a turbulent mass of swimmers heading out for the long line of buoys that demarcated the M-shaped swim course. He was not controlling his breathing and thoughts of just exiting the water raced through his mind as he struggled to compose himself. With the realization that he had come this far, not to finish was unacceptable, and he settled down and began to find his stroke.

All three teammates exited the two-loop swim within a minute of each other. The odd M shape of the course caused repeated areas for congestion at the 12 turns and the times for all three were about eight minutes slower than they had anticipated but they were out of the water and on the way to the bike course.

For Dr. Berke, his existential moment of decision came very early on the bike ride. Having ridden close to 2,000 miles in training, he was confident of a very fast ride to allow for ample time to complete the run. It soon became apparent that there were issues with back muscle spasms and after the first 10 miles he could find no position of comfort. His ride ended at 58 miles, one-half of the bike course. His race was done, DNF (did not finish) as he handed his timing chip to an official. Dr. Berke is a previous two-time Ironman finisher, but some days fate is not kind.

Both Sam and Knisely exited the bike course onto the run route with Sam about 80 minutes behind his brother-in-law, an experienced Colorado bicyclist who does about 5,000 miles of riding each year. Both stopped for a moment to console their dejected teammate, now a spectator only, and then it was on to the last task at hand, 26.25 miles, or three loops around the running course to the finish line.

Knisely’s moment of truth came at 20 miles into the run, heart rate at nearly 200 in the 82-degree, 94 percent humidity conditions, he almost passed out but recovered and slowing his pace to a walk, finally crossing the finish line, in a driving rain storm, at 13 hours, 11 minutes to the announcement “Jonathan Knisely of Denver, Colorado. You are an Ironman!”

Sam was still out on the course when the fierce monsoonal storm hit, and at mile 21 he was wringing out his socks and emptying water out of his sneakers. With thunder and lightning he had fears of the race being shut down but fortunately that just morphed into a steady drizzle and he finished at 15 hours, 14 minutes into the arms of his two sons, Ari and Avi, and the long-awaited announcement: “Samuel Whitmore of Lakewood, New York. You are an Ironman.”

In order to complete the original Berke Family Ironman mission, Jon Berke and Fredrick Larmore have signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 2019. Sam, Knisely and Dr. Berke have vowed to lend emotional support.