Four months of intensive training paid off for a Saanich triathlete who finished among the top competitors in a gruelling long-distance race last month.
On Dec. 14, after over five consecutive hours of biking, swimming and running, Heather Pallas crossed the finish line at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Tuapo, New Zealand.
After a trip to the snack tents and 20 minutes of much-needed rest, Pallas checked her race time, only to discover that she had placed 19th among 55- to 59-year-old female competitors.
“I remember ... just being so happy,” she said.
Of the 200 women who started the race in Pallas’ age category, only 169 finished the test of endurance, which consisted of a 1.9 kilometre swim, followed by a whopping 90-kilometre bike ride and a 21.1-kilometre run. In total, that’s about the distance between Victoria and Nanaimo.
No stranger to feats like this, Pallas has completed four Ironman races now, including one in Oceanside, California, where she qualified for the World Championship. She even completed the Canadian Death Race – a 118-kilometre ultramarathon – in just over 23 hours.
Despite the triathlete's impressive resume, the World Championship wasn’t easy.
“It was 26 to 27 degrees, and New Zealand has less ozone layer over it, so the sun intensity to me felt more like 32,” she said. “It was a really hot run. At every aid station, I was ... asking for ice to put on my head and put down my race suit.”
The bike ride – an up-and-down route with 750 metres of elevation – was difficult, too.
“The road surface was really rough, like all chip seal,” said Pallas, adding that she battled a headwind partway through. “My hands were so numb and tingly when I came off the bike.”
Moments like these were just as much a test of mental strength as they were physical endurance.
"Your legs and your body are going to go," said Pallas. "It's a mental battle and, as long as you can overcome the mental dialogue, that's where the true success is."
While part of Pallas' drive to compete in the race was to test her limits, her main goal was to inspire other women to pursue their passions.
"As a woman, you can do anything if you set your mind to it," she said.
With her hopes set on climbing Ironman leaderboards in the future, Pallas hopes to continue outpacing her competitors.
“I would like to have a first-place finish at a race,” she said. “If I were to qualify for Worlds again, my goal would be to hit top 15.”
