HOUSTON, TEXAS—This past Saturday, two Diocese of Charlotte priests, Father Matthew Harrison and Father Kevin Martinez, competed in the grueling 140-mile 2026 Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas triathlon in Houston.
The two priests arrived in Houston earlier this week to scope out the course where they ultimately ran 26.2 miles, biked 112 miles, and swam 2.4 miles – all in one day.
While technically a triathlon, for the priests it’s a pilgrimage that also inspires their flocks.
“I am not an athlete and then a triathlete. I am a priest of Jesus Christ first,” said Father Martinez, parochial vicar of St. Mark Church in Huntersville.
They spent a lot of the race praying, blessing bikes, helping others and talking to people about faith.
Saturday started at 6:30 am with a murky morning swim through a tight canal. Father Martinez volunteered to be the last of the 3,100 contestants to start the swim – a place no one wanted.
Father Martinez told the announcer that he is a Catholic priest and said, “I am not scared to be last. The last should be first.”
The bike portion was a two-loop stretch of flat highway, where both priests ran into challenges.
“My seat came loose,” said Father Harrison, the campus minister for High Point University. “I fastened it back at a weird angle, so it was kind of mentally brutal because I was sitting at this weird angle for six hours.”
Father Martinez almost mentally shut down.
“It gets lonely out there. You are out there for hours. It was like you vs. you, and it crossed my mind to stop,” Father Martinez said. “But, I was offering the race up for so many –my parishioners, my eighth graders, my children who were receiving their Confirmation that morning, the bishop, the diocese – that is what fueled me.”
Several sporadic downpours drenched competitors.
“Everybody slowed down dramatically,” Father Harrison said. “It helped because it cooled you down but also slowed you down. At that speed (around 19 mph), it felt almost like hail.”
Father Martinez gave a competitor stuck on the side of the road his spare tire.
To finish the event, they ran a three-loop course, cheered on by thousands of fans. The Hippie Hallow section of the track and its boisterous fans revitalized the priests.
“On mile 20, when you go through that tunnel of people cheering you on, banging trash cans, and dressed up like hippies, it energizes you for the next mile or two,” Father Harrison laughed.
The finish line was the best part for Father Martinez, when he crossed it with his red “Christ is King” flag, and the announcer remembered him from the start.
“Father Martinez is going to church tomorrow as an IRONMAN,” she announced.
The winner of the competition, a triathlon powerhouse from Norway, Kristian Blummenfelt, placed the medal around Father Martinez's neck at the finish line and took a photo beside him holding the flag.
“Finishing a race like this was a good accomplishment, but it was not as fulfilling or nearly as satisfying as the day I was ordained a priest,” Father Martinez said. “IRONMAN is an earthly title. When I die, that ends here, but I am always going to be a priest of Jesus Christ for all eternity.”
From hospital beds to IRONMAN finishes – Father Martinez
The best part of Father Martinez’s finish was being surrounded by family and friends, the same ones who supported him when he couldn’t support himself.
“My mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, my childhood best friend, and even Father Harrison were waiting for me at the finish line,” Father Martinez said. “That meant a lot to me because those people were the same people that spent the most amount of time in the hospital, at my bedside and praying for me. That healed a part of my soul that I didn’t know needed healing.”
Two years ago, before his ordination, Father Martinez was not in good health. He went in for knee surgery and shortly after had an intestinal blockage, which progressed into the need for multiple emergency surgeries.
“I was in the hospital for a month connected to tubes, all cut up,” Father Martinez recalls. “I had to literally learn how to walk again.”
Once discharged, he had to use a walker. His last surgery was just six weeks before he was ordained a priest.
“For me, that was a huge moment. I thought, ‘okay, God is calling me to suffer and to offer it up for a purpose and make reparation for sins’,” said Father Martinez.
Once he received permission to exercise from the doctor, he was so grateful.
“I was so grateful I was even able to walk by myself. I wasn’t even able to put on my own shoes. My mom had to dress me,” he recalled. “I couldn’t even get in and out of bed by myself. You name it, I couldn’t do it. It was humbling.”
After healing, Father Martinez felt God granted him a season of good health, and he was ready to use it.
“God is granting me health, so I am going to maximize it and do everything I can to glorify Him!” he said.
He started skateboarding, playing tennis, and eventually running. That’s when he fell in love with endurance sports.
He ran a marathon, thought it was overhyped, and looked for the next level of endurance. He didn’t know how to swim or bike at the time but had IRONMAN in his periphery.
“There is no limit to what the human body can do. It is in your mind where the limitations are,” he said. “If you tell yourself, you can do it, you can really achieve it as long as you put your faith in God and really push yourself.”
Though they finished the race, God and the goal of winning over souls for Christ were the real trophies.
“I don’t know if I am an inspiration, but I want my students and my parishioners to know, stop with the someday – today is the day,” Father Martinez said. “Whether it is studying, wanting to learn a new language, or especially wanting to get closer to God, don’t say, 'I want to work on that someday.' That someday is today. That is my biggest plug… Tomorrow is not guaranteed. You have the present moment that God has gifted you. Don’t wait for tomorrow with what can be done today.”
The Road to IRONMAN – Father Harrison
Father Harrison's journey toward endurance started at age 19, during his first year in the seminary, when he walked the nearly 500 mile Camino de Santiago that follows the route of the Apostle James through Spain.
“Having to push my body for the Gospel was something I never had to experience before until then,” Father Harrison said.
Two years later, he and his brother, seminarian John Harrison, tackled that same “Gospel endurance” by walking from Greensboro to Maryland, praying the rosary and stopping ay churches along the way Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s memorial. They took backpacks and a $100 bill.
“When you are really pushing yourself with these bigger efforts, you really have to rely more on God,” Father Harrison said.
While serving at Mass after he was ordained a deacon, he stepped down from the altar and felt his leg buckle.
“My legs were so weak because I had not been exercising, and I had gained a lot of weight. I just thought, ‘Wow, I am only 25, and I can’t serve at the altar the way I need to,’” he remembered.
He started running, training and participating in marathons, placing second in the 2024 Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, Ohio, amongst his age group.
As Father Harrison said, “It is my hope when the students see their spiritual father pushing himself that it will inspire them to push through hard things, both spiritually and physically, and to seek God through it and learn how to love the Cross.”
What’s next?
Father Harrison’s next adventure will start in two weeks. He is taking a group of collegiate Knights of Columbus to walk the Camino in Spain.
Father Martinez is in search of his next adventure.
*Father Martinez said a Mass for the repose of the soul of the IRONMAN contestant who lost her life during the swimming leg of the competition, Brazilian triathlete and influencer Mara Flavia.
— Lisa M. Geraci