Nunn Of That Negative Stuff
Jan 18, 2019 Grunion Gazette Newspaper
Jack Nunn is the son of John Nunn, who won the bronze Olympic medal in 1968 with his partner Bill Maher in the double sculls rowing event. I sat down with Jack this week to ask him if he felt like he grew up in his dad’s shadow.
Jack, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today?
My whole life revolves around fitness. My father, John Nunn, won an Olympic Bronze Medal in rowing in 1968 at the Mexico City Olympic Games, and he was the Olympic Men’s rowing coach in 1976 at the Montreal Summer Olympic Games. I always grew up playing sports and ended up rowing in 1996 for Long Beach Juniors and the next year where I qualified for the 1997 Junior National Team Selection Rowing Camp.
From there, I went on to star for four years at UC Berkeley with a full scholarship, winning four Pac ten championships and three IRA National Championships. I was a member of the US National Rowing Team from 2001-2006 winning a silver medal at the World Championships Eight Rowing event in Linz, Austria in 2001. When I’m not rowing or teaching on average 15 hours of classes per week, I love to compete in triathlons, marathons, cycling, and Ironman events. So far, I’ve completed fourteen full Ironman competitions and seven half Ironman’s. My motto is: “fight to the finish and do the best you can. What’s possible is what you think is possible.”
In 2017, I completed the most grueling Ironman in the World in Norway called the Norseman Extreme Ironman distance triathlon. The Isklar Norseman Xtreme Triathlon is probably one of the craziest things an individual can put themselves through. This race bills itself as, ‘simply the ultimate triathlon on planet Earth’ and they are right. It’s a total of 226km spread over a freezing cold swim, a brutal ride and a seemingly impossible marathon footrace up a mountain. This is not your everyday ocean swim. You’ll find yourself taken by boat to the middle of a Glacier near the town of Eidfjord, Norway. You are then required to jump into chilly waters off the back of a car ferry and then swim against the current over 2 miles back to shore. The bike ride consists of 10-percent grades uphill with five different mountain peaks and a total of 15,000 feet of climbing over 112 miles. The 26.2-mile marathon at the end of the competition consists of the ascent of Mount Gaustatoppen which is 6,000 feet high. This is where the make or break really happens. By now you’re exhausted, cold, and probably wondering why on earth you thought this was a good idea. This is undoubtedly one of the world’s toughest races. The combination of extreme conditions and unenviable ascents make sure to deter only the most severe or craziest of competitors. This year, I’m taking my challenge to a whole new level and currently training for the Ultraman Extreme endurance race Feb. 15-17, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. I’m doing this race to honor my father’s Olympic Bronze medal that he won at the Mexico City Summer Olympic Games just over 50 years ago. Ultraman Florida in Orlando is a three-day athletic endeavor guaranteed to test an athlete’s physical and mental limits. The race covers a total distance of 322 miles, around central Florida and it is more than a double ironman. It requires that each participant completes a 6.2-mile swim plus a 92-mile bike ride the first day, a 171-mile bike ride the second, and a 52-mile run on the final day. This will be my most difficult challenge yet, and I’m now training 25 plus hours a week for the past several months in order to prepare for this strenuous competition.