While many in Squamish enjoyed a lazy Sunday last weekend, Marathon Mae Palm added another Hawaii Ironman finish to her resume. The ultra distance competitor finished the swimming, biking and running in 15 hours, 4 minutes and 37 seconds and finished second in her age category.
Palm, 65, competed in the event on Sunday (Oct. 16).
Last year, Palm covered the three disciplines in 15:07:12 so she shaved a few minutes off this year.
She finished the 3.86 kilometre swim in 1:46:42. She completed the 180-kilometre bike race in 7:36:19, and the 42.2 km run, her strongest event, in 5:26:29.
She finished in seventh place in her age group last year but she was against younger competitors in 2004.
This year, Palm turned 65 and competed in the 65 to 69-age grouping.
The winner in that age category was Jan Miller, 67, of Arizona. Miller owned the age group with a finishing time of 13:54:25, almost two hours quicker than Palm. A total of six women competed in the 65 to 69-age category. All the other competitors in the group were from the U.S.A. The third place finisher crossed the finish line six minutes behind Palm.A video showing Palm crossing the finish line is available for viewing at www.ironmanlive.com. The video clip shows the Squamish resident crossing the finish line with a look of relief in her eyes.
The first person across the finish line at the world championship event was Faris Al-Sultan of Germany in a time of 8:14:17. Natascha Badmann from Switzerland was the fastest woman with a time of 9:09:30.
To qualify for the event in Hawaii, Palm competed in the Penticton Ironman on Aug. 28. Palm covered the course in 14 hours and 35 minutes. She and the other athletes at the event said the winds on the day of the competition were a real factor.
Thinking ahead to the Hawaii event, Palm chose to run just part of the marathon. She said her legs felt great after the [email protected]
