A Race for Iron Men and Iron Women : Triathlon: Simply finishing is enough for most in Hawaii, even if it’s too late to be official.

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii —  Under a full moon at 1 a.m., more than an hour after the 17-hour cutoff for an official Gatorade Ironman Triathlon finisher medal had passed, Mary Ann Woodring was somewhere out there in the dark.

Woodring, 62, had traveled 5,500 miles from Chenoa, Ky., to swim 2.4 miles in the harbor, bicycle 112 miles over lava fields and run 25 miles. She wasn’t going to quit even if she didn’t get one of the coveted finisher medals earned by 1,353 of the 1,438 starters.

The thousands of spectators, who had been dancing to old-time rock favorites and going nuts every time another competitor got his Bruce Jenner moment at the finish, had dwindled to a few dozen who had stayed to honor her triumph. With good reason.

After all, winner Mark Allen spent only 8 hours 7 minutes 45 seconds fighting the heat and winds. Allen, who is called by many the world’s greatest endurance athlete, had required two IV bottles and looked haunted from his struggle after the race--for which he earned slightly more than $25,000. Woodring had been out in the lava fields more than twice as long, but she looked blissful as she crossed the line.

Unable to talk, oblivious to the few hoarse cheers, she was led gently to the medical tent and one man caused her to smile when he said, “Hello Iron Lady.”

Scott Molina, the 1988 Ironman champion, and his wife, Erin Baker, who had fallen 10 minutes short of stopping women’s champion Paula Newby-Fraser’s run at a sixth title, were at the huge celebration for the last few official finishers, cheering and dancing to the music.

Allen, who stayed away this year, had come back near midnight in 1992 and had placed leis around the necks of the finishers.

“Everyone had told me to come there and see the looks on their faces,” Allen said. “It was awesome. The great thing was no one was thinking: ‘Oh, Mark Allen is here.’ They only had eyes for their husband, or wife, the ones who helped them through all the hard times to get there.”

Allen said he believes the elite triathletes are “honored to have the so-called average person competing on the same grounds. No touch football players can play in the Super Bowl, softball players can’t get on the field with Reggie Jackson, and basketball players can’t play in the same arena with Michael Jordan. But here people all run the same course on Saturday and it makes it all more special.”

Putting the challenge of the Ironman in perspective was Michael O’Brien, a 1984 Olympic swimming gold medalist in the 1,500-meter freestyle, who took on the Ironman to do a special feature for NBC.

O’Brien, 28, came out of the water seventh, a few seconds behind Wolfgang Dittrich of Germany, who swam a 48:30. O’Brien, who had trained on and off for a year, struggled through the bike in 6:36--2 hours 8 minutes behind the fastest split by Jurgen Zack of Germany. Then O’Brien shambled through the marathon in 6 hours 13 minutes and finished 1,206th--beaten by several 62-year-old grandmothers.

“This was the hardest thing I have ever done,” O’Brien said. “But at least I beat the nun!”

Sister Madonna Buder, 63, of Spokane, Wash., finished her seventh Ironman in 14 hours 1 minute. James Ward, 76, struggled through the bike ride in 8:38 but still managed an official finish in 16:35.40. “I’m going to have to do more hill training next year,” he said.

The fierce dedication required merely to finish the Ironman gives competitors a wide perspective. Finland’s Pauli Kiuru, who was fifth in 1989, third in 1990, fourth in 1991, third in 1992, was dropped to second by Allen this year with only eight miles to go. “No matter where we finish,” he said, “we are all winners to be able to race this hard.”

Tom Warren, 49, the 1979 Ironman champion, says he was never really concerned with retiring before people laughed at him for being over the hill. Saturday, he was fourth in his age group and finished 317th overall--but at 10:04.30, Warrren beat his 1979 winning time by 1 hour 12 minutes. For many, the race has been used as a final test to show they had overcome some adversity or as a goal that helps them come back from the seemingly impossible.

This year, Jim McLaren, who set an Ironman record for amputees last year at 10 hours 42 minutes, returned to speak to the crowd at the dinner before the race. But not as a participant. McLaren had been hit by a vehicle in a triathlon in Mission Viejo on June 6 and was initially paralyzed.

“I sat in my hospital bed watching the NBC show on the Ironman a few weeks later in bed and saw myself finish and thought: I used to be a triathlete,” McLaren said. “Then, in rehabilitation, I remembered some of the lessons from the Ironman: how to keep going when it seems impossible. Then Mark Allen and other triathletes visited me in the hospital and I realized this is a family. I started to get some feeling back--then I could swim a little in rehab, then I rode an exercycle.

“Last week, I was able to walk 150 yards. Then I thought, ‘Hey, I guess I am a triathlete again.’ ”