Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Autumn 2007 | Page 31

FEATURE

going the distance
Ironman is an almost incomprehensible challenge for the body and the mind. It is that challenge that inspires Canadian
Ironman athlete Lisa Bentley to push harder every race. Her career is a work in progress; a cycle, so-to-speak, of
accomplishing goals and then setting new ones, of reaching success, only to want more. So far in her career, Lisa has won
11 Ironman races and placed top-10 in the Ironman World Championships six times. Not bad for a kid who placed 104th in
her first running race in grade seven! Her ultimate goal, though, is to win the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Subaru
Canada is one of Lisa Bentley’s major supporters and wholeheartedly believes she will achieve this goal.

If you have ever watched TV coverage of Lisa Bentley competing in
an Ironman race, you can’t help but wonder what keeps a person
going that great distance. An Ironman is made up of a 3.8-km swim,
a 180-km bike ride, and a 42.2-km run – consecutively! The race
usually takes Lisa about 9½ hours to complete and just about every
one of those 226 kms is an exercise in sheer willpowe