These Inspirational Brothers Made History in Kona
About 10 years ago, then 25-year-old Brent Pease from Atlanta, Georgia, said he was still living in the drunken party scene from college. Deciding his lifestyle needed a change, he tried to get in shape just through running, but quickly became bored. He grabbed his old bike, started swimming again, and before long had caught the triathlon bug. Brent eventually finished his first Ironman in 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky.
During that race, there was someone on the sidelines cheering for Brent every step of the way, inspired by the endurance of his brother and the other athletes. He couldn’t help but wonder if he could do it, too. That someone was Kyle Pease, Brent’s now 33-year-old brother, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Kyle is wheelchair bound, requires help for daily tasks, and has trouble speaking. But beyond that, he’s living a fairly normal (albeit very busy) life. Kyle works in customer service at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta and has his own place. But it wasn’t until watching Brent in Louisville that he thought about pushing himself outside his comfort zone.
“In Ironman, you go through so many ups and downs, peaks and valleys, and it just resonated with me, and it didn’t really occur to me until after Brent finished the race that this is something I could do,” Kyle told Bicycling over the phone.
Little did Kyle know that the thought of completing an Ironman would become reality. Not only would he and his brother compete in Ironmans together (Brent has done 10 total now, Kyle four), but they made history on October 13 when they crossed the finish line at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii as the first ever push-assisted team of brothers to finish. The only other push-assisted team to finish was legendary father and son duo, Rick and Dick Hoyt, in 1999.
After starting to train together after Louisville, the brothers were already dreaming about Kona and completed their first Ironman together in Wisconsin in 2013. Even though Kyle can’t perform the same movements as Brent, they’ve figured out how to make the logistics easiest for both of them. For the swim portion of each race, Brent pulls Kyle along the course by tethering himself to Kyle’s inflatable kayak. On the bike, Kyle stays up front in a tandem three-wheel bike with Brent pedaling them forward. For the run, Brent pushes Kyle along in a wheelchair fit for racing.
A post shared by Brent Pease (@bpeas9) on Sep 13, 2018 at 7:42am PDT
The bike itself has been a challenge for the brothers over the years prior to Kona, as they’ve experimented with different models. But the Peases went into this year’s competition with Kona 1 in tow, a custom-designed bike that’s 30 pounds lighter than their last, the KPeasey 1. According to Brent, having to problem solve with Kyle and make alterations and advancements to their equipment is one of the highlights of competing with his brother.
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“If you overheard our conversation, it sounds like two able-bodied athletes trying to figure how to make their equipment and their body efficient for race day,” Brent said. “You would never guess that one of them is confined to a wheelchair.”
When the Pease brothers entered the lottery for this year’s championship and didn’t get it, they thought their chances of competing were lost. That is, until this past June during their half Ironman in Raleigh, North Carolina. At the end of the race, an announcement was made over the intercom that Brent and Kyle were invited by the Ironman Foundation to compete in Kona.
Even though the brothers now agree that race day was “pretty damn challenging,” they proved to the world-and to themselves-that they could finish the job. They crossed the finish line together at 14:28:59.
Now, the brothers will continue to focus on their foundation, which aims to help others with disabilities achieve the same kind of goals Kyle has through marathons, Ironmans, and other races. Whether they’re helping others gain confidence or chasing after their own goals, for Brent and Kyle, it’s always going to be a team effort.
“Kyle and I love sharing this stuff together, and over time, we have become athletes together,” Brent said.
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