Penticton Ironman’s first woman looks back in last year of event

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On Sunday, 41 years after becoming the first woman to complete an Ironman triathlon in Canada, Dyane Lynch, 81, was in Penticton to cheer on fellow athletes.

Since that day in 1983 when she crossed the finish line and made history, Lynch has been invited back several times by race organizers to share what she has learned from that moment, for which she is “deeply grateful.”

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Lynch didn’t wear a wetsuit back in 1983, she didn’t suck back high-powered gels to fuel her race and she didn’t think too much about being the only woman in a field of men.

“I was training for the Hawaii Ironman,” recalled Lynch, who was an avid marathoner living in Banff at the time. “The group I was training with for that was going to Penticton, and I went along to see what my time was like.”

The Ironman Triathlon is a race that includes a 3.9 kilometre swim, a 180.2 km bicycle ride and a marathon — 42.2 km — all completed in one day.

About halfway through the 112 mile cycling portion of the race, her blood sugar crashed. She wanted to quit.

“I knew I couldn’t give up,” she said.

Lynch recalls going “deep within” and accepting her feelings, including the pain. She said to herself over and over again, “I’m not a quitter, I’m not a quitter.”

Now, as she faces the challenges of her eighth decade, that mantra keeps her powering through, and doing the things she enjoys.

“I finished that race pedal by pedal,” said Lynch. “I kept going.”

After decades in B.C., this weekend’s Ironman race in Penticton is the community’s last, with the triathlon moving to Ottawa in 2025.

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On Sunday, organizers decided to cancel the swim portion of the race because the air and water temperatures were too low, based on international and B.C. rules.

Lynch completed two Ironmans before retiring from triathlons. She returned to Ireland to care for her aging parents and started her own family.

After returning to Canada, raising a son as a single mother made the time-consuming Ironman training impossible. But she never gave up being active, and she credits her lifetime commitment to physical activity for the mobility she enjoys today.

Lynch recently returned from Nepal, where she “somersaulted” down a marble staircase after turning her ankle in flip-flops. “I didn’t break anything,” she said.

She has trekked the Annapurna circuit in Nepal and reached its highest point, the edge of the Tibetan plateau at Thorong La pass (5,416 metres or 17,769 feet), hiked Machu Picchu and the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Lynch has the Ironman logo tattooed on her ankle, not out of pride, she said, but as a reminder of the gratitude and sense of connection she feels when she is active — a feeling she describes as being “almost spiritual.”

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“Whenever I’m feeling frail, or experiencing any of the things that happen to you as you get older, I look at it and say, ‘Dyane, you can do it.’”

Lynch, who is retired but still teaches English in Nepal, said she hopes her experience will help others connect with their own resilience when they feel like giving up. “Reflect on the things you’ve done, whether it’s gardening or parenting or an Ironman, remind yourself of your strengths, and go to that place of strength.”

Whenever she meets a challenge, she draws on the determination that got her through that first Ironman so many years ago. “When I’m experiencing a challenge in life, I remind myself that there is a reason for me to be here at this moment, and I keep going,” said Lynch.

She admits there are a few osteophytes sprinkled here and there in her joints, and she sometimes has to “cheat the stairs,” but she is often surprised when someone offers her a seat on the bus.

“I suppose I look old, but I don’t feel old,” she said.

And although she’s more than capable of keeping her balance on a lurching bus, when someone wants to give her a seat, she simply smiles and accepts.

“I take the seat,” she said. “Little do they know!”

After more than 30 years

dryan@postmedia.com

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