Ironman Huge Correa
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — Some used car salesmen don’t have the best reputation in the world, but Sonny Ali is changing hearts and minds.
After all, Ali has satisfied enough customers to stay in business in the same place for 10 years in Salisbury.
Besides making friends with his vehicles, Ali may be the world’s fittest car dealer. Last weekend, Ali completed Ironman Chattanooga, an endurance event that involves a 2.4-mile river swim and a 112-mile bike ride just for starters. After that, you get to run a marathon. Seriously, you run 26.2 miles to cap what already has been a challenging day.
Ali, who swears he is 52 but might be able to pass for 35, said Ironman Chattanooga was “a great and unforgettable experience” and recommends it to everyone, although it’s obviously not for everyone. A lot of ordinary people would drown in the current of the Tennessee River before they ever boarded their bike.
Ali is the American dream come to life. He came to the United States from Pakistan in 2000. He lived in Nevada for a while, but then he moved to Salisbury, a small city that came highly recommended by friends. He married an American girl and started a family.
Ali passed all the tests and became an American citizen in 2010. He has worked hard to develop his English skills over the years. The accent from his native land is permanent, but after years of practice, he communicates smoothly and articulately in a very difficult language to master. He talks quite a bit faster than your average Southern drawler, but he’s easily understood.
Ali managed convenience stores after he came to the USA. In 2010, he opened the Friendly Food Mart in Salisbury, with the hope of providing a store for an underserved community on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Five years later, he opened 1st Choice Autos, right next to Friendly Food Mart. His goal was to offer quality, affordable used cars. He’s given people positive used-car buying experiences, and word of mouth has been kind to him. That’s why he’s still in business. The right car at the right price. That’s his motto.
Besides being a businessman, Ali has been a distance runner for many years. He’s an experienced marathoner. He’s completed at least seven, including some big ones. He’s run in New York. He’s even trained people to run marathons.
In 2024, Ali took on a new challenge in the endurance sports world as a tri-athlete, a field of athletic endeavor that combines swimming, biking and distance running.
Ali competed in Wilmington in 2024 in what was known as North Carolina Ironman 70.3.
The “70.3” comes from the distances being trimmed in half from a full Ironman. The swim segment in the Cape Fear River was cut down to 1.2 miles, the bike ride was reduced from 112 miles to 56, and athletes ran “only” a half marathon — 13.1 miles. It’s still a really difficult challenge, but it’s not quite an Ironman.
Ali headed to Tennessee for a full Ironman well-prepared.
“I trained six months for Ironman Chattanooga,” Ali said.
Ironman Chattanooga annually attracts about 2,500 elite athletes, of all shapes, sizes, genders and nationalities to the Tennessee Valley where the borders of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama come together.
Chattanooga is a scenic place to compete and is considered by many to be the capital city for tri-athletes.
While the event is always held in late September, it’s still quite warm — mid-80s — with water temperatures in the low 70s.
An Ironman pro from Sweden won this year’s event by about a minute, with an Australian second. An American finished third. The winner finished the grind in 7 hours, 34 minutes, 27 seconds.
The top female competitor, an Austrian, completed the event in 8 hours, 38 minutes.
The 2.4 mile swim in the Tennessee River, while it’s the shortest segment of Ironman Chattanooga, can cause problems, even though athletes are swimming down river with the flow of the current. It can be exhausting if your strokes aren’t clean and efficient. You may not have enough left in the tank when you get to the two main events.
“Swimming in open water is much different than swimming in a pool,” Ali said. “There were so many people in the water, and it was like you were swimming in the dark. You couldn’t see very far.”
Ali got through the swim, and he was more comfortable on the long, scenic biking portion of the event. He turned in a solid time.
“We had some headwinds to deal with,” Ali said. “It wasn’t an easy ride.”
Some Ironman competitors understandably hit the wall during the marathon run through the city of Chattanooga at the end of the day, but Ali had plenty of experience as a distance runner and handled it. He was a thrilled finisher. His training at Hurley YMCA had served him well.
Ali completed the course in 13 hours, 41 minutes, 44 seconds and was 759th overall. He finished in the top half of his age group. He was 51st out of 118 competitors. He had started in the water at about 7:30 a.m. and finished after 9 p.m.
He pushed his body past his old limits and he broke through barriers. He’s understandably proud.
Hugo Correa, a local contractor who competed in the 45-49 age group, also was able to complete Ironman Chattanooga. He got the job done in 16 hours, 16 minutes, 57 seconds.
Ironman Chattanooga was a four-day event, with registration on Friday, briefings on Saturday, race day on Sunday, and awards presentations on Monday.
Ali’s powers of recuperation are strong. He barely felt the ordeal he’d been through as he drove back to Salisbury. He went right back to work.
“Your body gets used to it if you are consistent with your training,” Ali said.
The oldest Ironman finisher on record was a 92-year-old Japanese man, so Ali figures he’s got a quite a few more years left in the endurance sports world. He’s getting ready now to run the marathon in Washington, D.C., in late October.
“I like that city and that course,” Ali said. “It’s one of my favorite places to run.”
