Rob Arkell is heading to Hawaii after qualifying for the prestigious Ironman World Championships – less than a year after a serious accident which threatened to derail his entire triathlon career.

The Fareham based 30-year-old achieved the remarkable feat by beating stiff competition from around the world at Ironman Texas to bag his spot, writes Adam Leitch.

He completed the course – a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile marathon - in just 9 hours and 37 minutes, despite almost 100 per cent humidity pushing the real feel temperature to 42c.

Arkell finished the race in an astonishing 45th place overall, even beating some professionals, and was sixth in his age category, bagging him one of the coveted slots to compete in Kona, Hawaii, in October.

His achievements are made all the more incredible by his recent crash, which left him nursing a string of serious injuries.

He explained: “It happened on July 5, 2014. I was two weeks out from Ironman UK and seven weeks from Ironman Copenhagen and I was hoping I would qualify for Kona in one of those races.

“I was on a training ride on a wide open road, the A30, between Winchester and Salisbury. There was a car on the right hand side on a crossroads. As I was approaching the crossroads he hadn’t seen me and pulled right to left and it left me with no option whatsoever.

“My head hit the car first, knocking me unconscious, then my shoulder and I went over the roof and bounced down the road.

“The police said they thought I was dead.

“Thankfully I wasn’t but I broke my shoulder, had severe head injuries which gave me dizziness and blurred vision for four months, damaged vertebrae in my back and damaged my pelvis and knee.

“I’d never had a day off work then had five weeks where I couldn’t do anything.”

However, Arkell didn’t let his dream of qualifying end there.

“As soon as I could I just worked as hard as I could in the background to get back,” he recalled.

“It came together well and I did the Rome marathon this year in 2 hours 49 minutes, and then got the qualification at Ironman Texas.

“I started marathon running in 2010 and then got into triathlon in 2011. When I entered my first Ironman in 2012 I just wanted to finish. It seemed almost impossible. But then I got the idea of qualifying and have dedicated four years to chasing that dream.”

The dream became a reality some 5,000 miles from home in the heat of Texas.

Arkell swam 1.09, biked a brilliant 4.51 and ran 3.28, all despite the heat.

It was a day where consistency and sticking to a plan paid off.

“The swim was a rolling start, so you self seed yourself. I went in the 1.05-1.10 group so coming out at about 1.09 was bang on track.

“Being a rolling start meant I got a lot less bashed about than if it was a mass start. There were a couple of scuffles but nothing too bad, and I was happy with the time given it was non-wetsuit. Thankfully I wore my Huub swim skin and that made a big difference.

“The bike was certainly fast. The course record was broken on the day. I was riding with a Stages power meter on my Canyon Speedmax bike – which I only got perfected a week before the race as it has taken time for a replacement after my old bike was written off in the crash.

“I had only done two rides outside since the accident, with all the rest of my work on a turbo trainer – I have converted my garage into a state of the art Ironman training room, complete with Sky.

“I had a plan to stick at a power of between 205 and 210 watts, and had my watch set to update me every ten miles. I hit every ten miles at about 210.

“The goal was to ride within myself and I did that because I think I could have gone a bit harder but I wanted to make sure I could run well in the heat.

“I tried to keep my core temperature down by pouring water over my arms on the bike and putting ice down my top on the run and it seemed to work.

“I got into transition, got my Newton trainers on and out onto the run and I was told I was the 25th age grouper overall so I knew I was going well.

“The first two miles felt great and I started at my goal pace which was about 7.15 minute miles. I soon realised though I had never run in heat like it and after that two mile mark it was like a slap in the face.

“I had to back it off or I was going to dig a hole I couldn’t get out of.

“I walked through all the aid stations to make sure I kept my temperature down and got my nutrition on. It has taken four years but I think the experience paid off as I really nailed that side of it.

“It was a three lap run and just before I started the final lap I knew I was in ninth place in my age group. I thought that if I could keep up the pace I would have a good chance of finishing in the top five or six, and there would be that many slots for Kona.

“I managed to do that, though I had a sprint finish that took me a while to cool down from as I was trying to beat somebody who I thought was in my age group but turned out not to be.

“The next day I went to the awards ceremony and there were six spots so I got my place to Kona.

“It is the best feeling in the world and I just feel massive, massive pride.”

Arkell, a member of the David Lloyd Port Solent tri club, holds down a full time job as a sales director at Park Gate based Koozai yet still trains for up to 20 hours a week.

“It certainly takes up a lot of time, but the thousands of hours of training are all worth it now” smiled Arkell, who admitted his pride at achieving his dream.

“It is so important to have a good support network and my girlfriend, Kitty Rose, is brilliant about it, as are my mum and step dad, and all my friends and family so I have a lot to thank them for.”