How exciting to not only meet a world class athlete but to actually weigh them, measure them and do a whole body DEXA scan on them! I was lucky enough to have that opportunity recently with Ultraman World Champion Mike Le Roux. Here is a sneak peek at what a DEXA scan is.
About Mike Le Roux
Mike is a 35-year-old ultra athlete from Cairns in Far North Queensland. In the new frontier of ultra and endurance racing, Mike is always looking for a new challenge to push the limits of his body and mind. www.mikeleroux.com.au
So what exactly is an Ultraman?
I started surfing the web and this is what I discovered.
The Ultraman World Championship is a 3 day, 320 mile (515-km) annual endurance race held on the Big Island of Hawaii. The race is divided into 3 stages over 3 days: The 1st is a 6.2-mile (10-km) ocean swim from Kailua Bay to Keauhou Bay, followed by a 90-mile (145-km) cross-country bike ride, with vertical climbs that total 6,000 feet. Stage two is a 171.4-mile (276-km) bike ride from Volcanoes National Park to Kohala Village Inn, with total vertical climbs of 4,000 feet. Stage 3 is a 52.4-mile(84-km) double-marathon, which starts at Hawi and finishes on the beach at the Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area. Each stage must be completed within 12 hours or less. The swim portion of stage one must be completed in 5.5 hours or less. Participants who do not reach the finish lines within the time limits are disqualified.
This event attracts athletes who seek to explore the extreme in physical and mental abilities. The race is limited to 35 athletes on an invitation-only basis and attracts participants from around the world, including Brazil, Canada, Italy, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia and the United States. Racers must have reached their 20th birthday prior to the start of stage one. Each racer must be accompanied by an individual support team of at least two people over the entire course. Many support team members are volunteers from the Big Island community.
Photo of Mike having a DEXA scan in our Atherton office in North Queensland. (Photo used with permission.)
It was interesting but not unexpected to see that Mike had exceptionally high bone density, well above average for his age No doubt this is a result of the continual weight-bearing exercises such as running that he subjects his body to.
Mike’s height of 190.5cm and weight of 89 kg gives him a Body Mass Index of 24.5 which is a very healthy result for his age. And as expected he also had a very low body fat level of 10.8%.
We wish Mike all the very best with his future challenges. We hope to see more athletes coming in for DEXA scans over the coming months. DEXA is a great tool to monitor body composition changes over time.
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