Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine 2013 | Page 18

Lisa Bentley,
11-time IRONMAN
winner – and Cystic
Fibrosis sufferer
Competed in Boston on April 15
Some would have quit right then and there. Lisa Bentley, only
20 when first diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), didn’t quit.
Devastating for many, the serious lung disease is especially
difficult for someone dreaming of being a professional athlete.
But that didn’t stop Lisa.
Under careful medical supervision, she trained hard to compete
in triathlons. In 1997 she achieved the second fastest debut time
ever recorded in her first IRONMAN, which took place in Canada.
In 2000 she won the grueling competition. Since then Lisa has

builds on the legacy of the 2010
Winter Olympics, offering athletes a
beautiful, challenging experience in a
world-class venue. The inaugural event,
scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013,
will be the IRONMAN Canada’s 31st
running. If you go, see our story on what
to do in Whistler on Page 29.
“The race will start with a two-loop,
3.86 km swim in the clean shallow
waters of Alta Lake at Rainbow Park.
Athletes will enjoy a lakeside transition
before starting a one-loop, 180.2 km
bicycle course, travelling south on the Sea
to Sky Highway before climbing into the
Callaghan Valley, site of the Nordic skiing
events during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
After descending back to the highway,
athletes pass through Whistler on their

won eleven IRONMAN competitions, including five straight in
Australia, making her one of Canada’s most successful triathletes.
Lisa coaches others at her Subaru Success Camps, encouraging
them to follow their dreams – no matter what the challenge. Her

back section will open to breathtakingly
beautiful views of a glaciated peak. Athletes
return to Whistler via Sea to Sky over rolling

lung capacity has returned enough to allow competing again—
and believe it or not was in Boston this year. “I pounded as hard
as I could through to the finish line,” Bentley said. “That is what I
would want our athletes to do, so I did it. I finished in around 2:49
and 6th masters woman and I think 34th woman overall.”
“From there we showered and ate and then made our way back
to the finish line to meet some friends,” she added. “Luckily we
were late getting there and so we were still about 100-200 m
away from the explosion just on the other side of the medical tent.
Thankfully Dave and I were together – there is comfort in that. We
had a lot of blessings on Monday – others did not! Situations like
this make me reflect on that fact that we can only control what
we can control – we can control our attitude so we chose to be
helpful and positive.”

Editor’s Note:
Lisa ran this year’s tragic Boston Marathon. Although she had
finished her race more than an hour earlier, she was still in the
vicinity of the finish line when the bombs exploded. Fortunately,
she was not injured. This is how Lisa described the aftermath in
an interview with CBC News, “We just started seeing the lights
and the sirens and the emergency vehicles and we thought
we’ve just got to get away from here, so we kept walking
away from the finish line.”

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Olympic Plaza. The two-loop, 42.2 km course
follows the meandering Valley Trail past Lost
Lake and Green Lake allowing spectators to
reinvigorate athletes with a return through
Whistler Village at the halfway point of the
run. Athletes repeat the same loop a second
Olympic Plaza.”

IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka

September 8, 2013
About IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka
The 2013 IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka will be the
event’s 6th edition. The 1.93 km, one-loop swim
will take place in picturesque Peninsula Lake.
The 90.1 km bike course circles Lake of Bays,
riding through small towns such as Dwight,
Dorset, and Baysville. The 21.08 km run will travel
through Muskoka County, past pink granite rock and
cascading waterfalls along the Fairy Vista Trail. There
are also 40 qualifying slots to the IRONMAN World