4 ms·
Oldest woman to finish Ironman World Championship in Kona
- artur_makly 1y agoThe mind can be so powerful.. age is just a #
- 2muchcoffeeman 1y agoIf you trained when you were younger, you’ll know this is complete BS. My performance as I age is on a steady downward slope. Recovery is noticeably worse, diet is becoming more important to maintaining a stable weight. Don’t leave getting fit to your thirties or later. Start now.
- Synaesthesia 1y agoYeah, I only started taking fitness seriously at 39. I'm now 41, and I'm glad I did, I might be in the best shape of my life.
- tock 1y agoThe point of saying that is to inspire people to just start trying now. People cannot choose to become younger.
- gcanyon 1y agoI've had a concept 2 rowing machine for almost 20 years, so I (automatically) have a detailed record of every workout for two decades. N=1, but for me at least, I have clear evidence that the same level of effort does not produce the same result as you get older. onsistent effort does produce results at any age (that I've reached at least).
- brailsafe 1y agoTechnically you're probably right, but I think this feeling affects people who trained to be competitive at something when they were very young, then stopped and stagnated, and then tried to pick it back up after their divorce or letting themselves get a beer gut or something. The feeling of not being the same as they were in high school or whatever. I was reasonably athletic, but never tried to "train" or got even close to what peak might have meant, and then continued skateboarding and doing other athletic things throughout my twenties, always being in pretty good shape. Now in my thirties, I'm in my best shape and continuing, it doesn't really matter what my peak hypothetically could have been or where I was at earlier, past is the past, let the good memories stick around, let the bad ones disappear, be present and keep pushing into the future. Maybe I consider it a blessing that I never tried that hard in my early years, because now I'm not concerned about any ceiling. I let the enjoyment and ambition guide me, not the numbers, who cares.
- srameshc 1y agoI wokeup to read this and I am inspired. I am a late starter, could barely run for 5 minutes, but now I can do 5 miles. I was thinking to myself few days back, "how can people run a marathon and 100K run". After learning about this lady, I think if I try , I can as well.
- nake89 1y agoI've run an 83k with surprisingly little training or background. I obviously worked up slowly to get there. But it is very doable for anybody.
- almost_usual 1y agoThat’s impressive, how much vert?
- nake89 11mo agoAscent: 1,304 m Descent: 1,167 m More info: https://nutskarhunkierros.fi/en/races/83km/ https://nutskarhunkierros.fi/en/races/83km/ I do want to mention when I said: "surprisingly little training " I realize now what this sounds like. I want to mention that I did other races to build up my condition to be able to this one (the longest one I ever did). I also want to mention that it was probably the physically hardest (but most rewarding) thing I've ever done.
- almost_usual 11mo agoNice work!
- notesinthefield 1y agoIt takes time and I encourage runners of any level to start thinking about running, if they like it, in yearlong blocks with annual goals. My longest race to day is a 30 mile trail ultra. Ive done a variety of sports all my life so the fitness base was there. Then I committed to specifically training for that distance. Truth be told - as long as your training is consistent, intentional and you want it, eating is the hardest part. By far. 100k is a different beast altogether. It takes a community to tackle 24-30 hours of ruunning!
- Qem 1y agoIf you're 80 years old and still able to finish ironman, I wonder how many additional years of expected lifespan this gives you, statistically.
- basisword 1y agoOr is it too much and more likely to take from you? I wonder if the fitness benefits or offset by so much stress on joints.
- exasperaited 1y agoFor a woman of 80 in 2025 you can already say it is making no real difference in terms of statistical outcome so it's at least not obviously taking from her. She is a little older than her cohort life expectancy at birth (which was 78 in the USA in 1945): https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2011/lr5a4.html https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2011/lr5a4.html Assessed in 2010 at the age of 65 she might be expected to live to 85. That seems quite likely. If anything you would have to say it leans towards extending her life because she will not be eating less like elderly people do, she is likely to have excellent venous health, her reaction times must be good, and prosaically she's so physically fit that just that much more likely not to be derailed by a fall. Living at her age starts to be a question of intent but there are loads of really small things that can trigger decline; she is robust against many of them. What a remarkable woman.
- Qem 1y agoLife expectancy at birth is different from life expectancy at given age. Each year you manage to survive after birth increases your current life expectancy, because you already managed to avoid all causes of death up to that point.
- exasperaited 1y agoYes, I amended my comment but it's still pretty solid. Her average life expectancy assessed at age 65 would have been 85. (And assessing the average woman of her age now is not likely to change it that much; AFAIK life expectancy in the USA is actually falling slightly across all age groups)
- croisillon 1y ago[flagged]
- Qem 1y agoYes, it is, because the current mainstream discourse treats childbearing and achievement as mutually incompatible. I think it explains part of the fertility crash. This is a cute counterexample to the mainstream view.
- notesinthefield 1y agoEconomic factors of childbearing overwhelmingly account for reasons why people dont have children - not personal achievement.
- nake89 1y agoI don't this is true. If this was true people in poor countries would have the least kids. You could argue that it is access to birth control + economic factors. But even this doesn't seem to be true. I would say the most common reason is cultural. Average age of first pregnancy is nowadays very old. Definitely driven by culture. If you are to have your first child at over 30 it is very likely you will only be having 1. Which is below replacement levels. Also it creates a society of single child households, no siblings, and in my opinion too much focus on 1 child. Another cultural aspect I would say is the view of the importance of family. I myself come from a very poor family in a developed nation. I am glad my mother didn't explain me out of existence due to economic factors. Tangent/rant: And no, I'm not a right-winger. People's single opinion's on topics shouldn't dictate their view on all matters. This is such a weird US-centric phenomenon that is creeping to other countries...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- lr4444lr 1y agoThe toll that children and grandchildren (by caretaking, which is common) take on a human female is significant, so yes.
- tbassetto 1y ago> It was her 11th Ironman race despite not learning to swim until she was 59 and not starting triathlons until she was 60. This gives me some hope about learning some new sports late in my life.
- nmdeadhead 1y agoI started programming professionally at 16. I ran my first mile at 46. I'm 62 now and have run quite a bit. There's a very good (IMO) podcast that is mostly interviews of runners over 60[0]. At least one of his early interviews was with a woman who also finishes Ironmans. Disclosure, I'll be interviewed a week from today, although I don't know when it'll be published. [0] https://www.youtube.com/@RUNLONGAFTER60/podcasts https://www.youtube.com/@RUNLONGAFTER60/podcasts
- FeistySkink 1y agoWhat kind of exercise do you do or have done besides running? And if not too personal, what injuries do you have? Cheers.
- nmdeadhead 1y agoFunny you should ask. I do my core exercises on Tuesdays and Thursdays and read Hacker News while I'm doing my unweighted squats. "Normally", I run Monday through Saturday and ride my bike on Sundays, with the aforementioned core work done in addition to my Tuesday and Thursday runs. I'm about to start my "Bataan Memorial Death Run" training block and I've put that training plan on GitHub[0]. I also started an mdbook about some of the stuff I've done, but my (then 92 year old) mom had a stroke and it's less than half-baked[1]. [0] https://github.com/ctm/Bataan-Memorial-Death-March/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/ctm/Bataan-Memorial-Death-March/blob/mast... [1] https://ctm.github.io/docs/yld/life/too-public.html https://ctm.github.io/docs/yld/life/too-public.html
- nmdeadhead 1y agoD'oh! I didn't think to mention that I do serious rucking, because I tend to think of that as running, because I actually run when I ruck. Most ruckers don't. As for injuries, I have some trouble in my right foot that was due to competing in a 12-hour ruck race on a hilly trail, where we did loops in the same direction. That was May 3rd and it's still giving me a little trouble. I had a different injury in my right foot that was giving me trouble for about two years that I think was due to an aged (about ten years old) orthotic causing hard to diagnose problems that were easy to misdiagnose. I think that trouble is behind me. One day on little sleep, when I was new to bicycling, I went over my handlebars at over twenty miles an hour, landing on my face. That flat out broke a few teeth and chipped / damaged some others. Last month I had to have six of my front teeth removed, probably due in part to the damage they took on that bike accident, although to be fair, when I was in grad school I drank a lot of sugared coke right out of the bottle and ate away much of the enamel on my upper front teeth, so some of my teeth problems are due to simple negligence. Oh, and I had an inguinal hernia that was probably due to my rucking. I had mesh put in on one side in 2012. I have continued to ruck competively since. I came in third overall at the Bataan Memorial Death March this year in the male civilian heavy (meaning carrying a 35 pound pack or more) division[0]. [0] https://bataanmemorialdeathmarch.itsyourrace.com/Results/6574/2025/129812/2194 https://bataanmemorialdeathmarch.itsyourrace.com/Results/657...
- iberator 1y ago[flagged]
- zwnow 1y agoFunnily enough the current reigning party in Germany actually wants the elderly to continue working past retirement age. What makes this even more ironic is that these are also their biggest group of voters...
- danw1979 1y agoOh come on, nothing in the article suggests she’s still working. This is recreation and only that. Of all the old folks I know in their 80’s the happiest and healthiest are, and have always been, the active ones who still do circuits classes, swim, gym, etc. Keep your elderly loved ones in your life moving and they’ll last a lot longer.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- lr4444lr 1y agoGrabow worked as a software engineer. Just when I thought she couldn't be even more awesome.
- Hnrobert42 1y agoI know right? And given her age, she was a developer in the 1980s. When she finally passes, they're going to cut her open and just find a big sack of grit.
- TheAlchemist 1y agoThat's incredible. Especially the swim ... PS. If you're inspired by this story, this video might be a great watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J07O6dViHo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J07O6dViHo
- amelius 1y agoFrom the title I assumed this was about using exoskeletons.
- game_the0ry 1y agoMakes me feel pretty pathetic that I probably can't even run a mile un under 12 mins, if that.
- ptspts 1y ago[flagged]
- skirge 1y agoIt means she had normal life and achieved that so can you
- OhioMan2943 1y agoChildbirth and pregnancy can be significant hurdles for some women in staying healthy- it's good to inspire people
- Hnrobert42 1y agoIt's a human interest story.
- embedding-shape 1y agoAre you not a human too? I am, I can see why they want to highlight that, obviously "grandmother finishes ironman" is more "newsworthy" than "mother finishes ironman", and obviously not because her daughter had children of her own, but because it's implied she's old and people see the old as frail, and she proved she is anything but frail. "Grandmother" is more important than all of those other things, because of the whole "old+frail" thing usually makes people not participate in ironman challenges, at least where I live, and none of those other things implies anything of the sort. Not everything is a scientific journal, and people with hearts like "feel good stories", even the stories with a bit of flowery language to really drive home some of the points. It's OK.
- Bjartr 1y agoIt's a kind of context about the person's life, since this is a local community publication, not a news wire service. One that is palatable to a wider audience than religion or political affiliation for a feel-good story like this. Though if she had no loving family and were engaged in the church, that is what I would have next expected to hear about since she is retired. If not retired, I would have expected a blurb about her job instead. There's also a good chance, since she was interviewed, that that's how she described herself first. "Tell me about yourself." "Well, I'm a grandmother..."
- almost_usual 1y agoAn 80 year old also completed Badwater ultra (135 mile run in Death Valley in the summer). https://www.npr.org/2025/07/16/nx-s1-5467389/meet-the-oldest-runner-to-complete-the-badwater-ultramarathon https://www.npr.org/2025/07/16/nx-s1-5467389/meet-the-oldest...
- ck2 1y agoimho her half-ironman times are exponentially more impressive she has a SUB 7 HOUR half-ironman, that's bonkers very healthy well-trained 40yo would have a hard time matching that some people just have excellent genetics and then pair that with excellent training https://www.athlinks.com/athletes/94494810/results https://www.athlinks.com/athletes/94494810/results
- squigz 1y agoCurious why the title got changed from the article's original to the more-clickbaity version that it is now?