Bio for Darren Campbell 

Name: Darren Campbell

Occupation: Police Sergeant, RCMP ‘E’ Division Major Crimes Section, Vancouver

Personal Information: Father of four, one teenage son, one 4 year old daughter and two 18 month old twin daughters.  (If anyone has seen an idiot riding a time trial bike with an attached child trailer, that would be me.)

What convinced you to join the Cops For Cancer Ironman Team?

For me, completing an Ironman is a great accomplishment and a very satisfying personal experience.  It allows you to set a significant goal,  requiring determination and effort, just to cross the finish line.  There is a downside to all of that.  The distance involved requires a fairly selfish and time consuming training plan.  This means time away from family, friends, and other responsibilities.

This year it made sense that if I was going to be involved in such a ‘selfish’ sport that I would give back in some way.  In the past cancer has effected the lives of some of my family members and the lives of some of my friends.  Some of my family members have been taken by cancer.  Others through sheer courage and determination are still with us, (Way to go Trisha P. and Paul H.!)  As a police officer of 18 years, I can say that I have had to face dangerous situations but I have never had to face the realistic possibility of death that lingered in the shadows as long as cancer does.  To live with or through something like that is true courage.   

Do you have any specific goals for your Ironman experience?

I want to have a great August 24^th.  I’d like to break 12 hours and take to time to actually notice my family members along the race course.  More importantly, I want this year’s Ironman to be more than a selfish venture.  Between work, family, training and fundraising, I am committed to raising awareness to cancer related issues and I want to raise as much money for the Canadian Cancer Society as I possibly can.

What is your athletic background?

I’ve always been active.  I started with track and field and cross country running, (a long time ago).  At the same time, I was a competitive swimmer.  I ran my first marathon when I was 13 years old.  By 18, I started to race road bikes, (That’s why I’m still a ‘roadie’ at heart.  You can always tell a old roadie if they’ve running Campy on their tri bike.)  As I had done all three sports competitively, it made sense to get into triathlons.  I did my first Olympic distance triathlon in 1986.  I was much faster then.  Now I’m old and slow and for some odd reason I get a lot of satisfaction in punishing myself over a distance of 160 plus miles.

My upcoming events are:

• Maintain sanity while I work six days a week.

• Change endless diapers.