Local athlete Leoni Kelly recently competed in an Ironman triathlon in Tempe, Arizona and finished in 12th place in her category.
Kelly competed in the female 45 to 49 category on Nov. 18. She completed her swim in one hour and 23 minutes, the bike ride in five hours and 33 minutes, and the run in five hours and 12 minutes.
This was her first Ironman, but Kelly didn’t feel any pressure from the large number of people she was competing against.
“You have to learn to let those nerves go and you have to tell yourself it’s your own race,” said Kelly. “Don’t race against other people, do your own race.”
Kelly’s favourite aspect of the triathlon is the bicycle ride. She finds the swim the most difficult but was happy with how her swim went in this race.
The run is something Kelly is often proud of, but in this race she ended up getting sick and wasn’t able to do it in her desired time.
Kelly figures that getting sick pushed her time back by an hour and made it “quite a challenge to finish.”
Compared to her expectations going into the race, Kelly said it was tough and challenging and feels she could have placed much higher in her category.
“If everything went as planned I would have had a podium spot but I knew going into the Ironman to expect the unexpected,” she said. “It was worse than I expected; it was really hard.”
When asked what events she has her sights set on next, Kelly laughed and said, “I’m three days out from the Ironman so, for now, I’m going to take time off and just spend a lot of time with my family.”
